


Wings of Fire: Timeless

by dragon_25



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Animus magic, F/M, Gen, Hivewings, IceWings, Leafwings, NightWings, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, SandWings, Silkwings, animus dragons loosing their souls, time travle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2019-09-25 06:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17116523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragon_25/pseuds/dragon_25
Summary: Animus magic can do anything but bring back the dead right? What if Darkstalker tried to go back in time for Clearsight, instead of trying to re-create her?AU where Darkstalker goes back in time to retrieve Clearsight, but she's not the only one who gets brought back. And with her and other dragons gone, timelines change.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> sorry this chapter is short, they'll be longer later.

“No, that’s not right. Be Clearsight with her powers, but without the ability to see negative futures, and she obtains her memory from the day Before she took off her moonstone earrings, and thinks Fathom had gone off to find Indigo,” Darkstalker growled growing impatient. 

“I better get back to the queens palace Before she starts to wonder where I am,” Clearsight cried standing up and trotting out of the room. 

“Wait! The queen is gone, you can stay with me,” Darkstalker pleaded her Before she had finished running through the doorway. 

“What do you mean she's gone? She asked me to have an extremely detailed report on Icewing activity for tomorrows ambush on their outpost." 

“No, she's GONE, she’s been dead for hundreds or thousands of years,” Darkstalker said trying to hide the frustration that threatened to spill into his words. 

“WHAT! Did you kill her, I haven't had a vision of you killing her for about a month,” Clearsight said mummering the last half to herself. 

This left a hole of gilt in Darkstalker’s stomach,  _you had to give her those earrings,_ one part of his mind whispered. _It was the only way to keep her happy,_  another part of his mind argued back. He tried to convince himself it was the right thing to do, even if deep down he knew he only did it to keep her out of his way. 

“I didn’t kill her, she left the Night kingdom two thousand years ago,” Darkstalker said. 

“So, it IS true,” Clearsight whispered clearly terrified. “You are immortal, you aren’t the Darkstalker I knew and loved as a dragonet." 

“Enough,” Darkstalker shouter shaking the walls with his terrifying voice. “Stop." 

“How am I supposed to do this? What am I getting wrong with you?” Darkstalker said, walking around Clearsight studding her like she was made of gold.  _I wish Moon were here to help me, she would know what to do,_  Darkstalker thought. 

“Ok, re-do,” Darkstalker sighed. “Be Clearsight, with her memories intact until the day she became the queen's seer, and she has no memory of Fathom, and can't see any negative futures” Darkstalker said. 

Clearsight’s eyes closed for a couple seconds, then she opened her eyes. When Clearsight's eyes opened she looked around the room, presumably for someone Darkstalker guessed. 

“Where’s Listener? What are you doing here?” Clearsight asked. 

“That doesn’t matter, you’re going to be my queen and we’ll rule the kingdom together,” Darkstalker said. 

“Why? We already have a queen; besides I have to tell the queen about the Icewings attack,” Clearsight said. 

“No, the Icewings have already been dealt with, were safe from them. Please marry me and you will be my queen,” Darkstalker pleaded, praying this would be the right combination and they could rule the tribe's side by side. 

“Sorry, are you okay? You seem confused. We have a queen, but I'll marry you,” Clearsight said cheerfully. 

“Stop!” Darkstalker growled. 

 _Why can't I get her right? No matter what I do I just can't get her right. I know I was told that_ _animus magic_ _can’t_ _bring dragons back from the dead. If it could I’d probably have to have her bones to do that, but I just- don't- can't. I wish she were still alive today_. Darkstalker thought, looking back at Clearsight frozen mid-sentence. 

Wait, that might just work. Darkstalker rushed out of the room, without looking a second look at Clearsight. He found what he was looking for instantly. A piece of paper and an inkwell. Then he started to word out a spell, one that might just work.


	2. Chapter 1

 

“This will only be for a bit, hopefully the night will be over soon,” Darkstalker mumbled to himself. “Be Clearsight with her memories intact until the week after we met. She doesn’t have any memories of Fathom or Indigo and isn’t interested in the future and wants to live in the present and is focused on loving me. If she finds out any information that would shock her, she immediately forgets that information,”. 

“Hello, Darkstalker. You look absolutely stunning, my love,” Clearsight said. 

“This will do for tonight,” Darkstalker mumbled to himself. “Clearsight, will you go to the garden party with me tonight, I want to introduce you to one of my friends,”. 

Clearsight took a moment to think. The odd thing about her was she didn’t have thoughts; her mind was just a black canvas Darkstalker couldn’t hear a thing from her mind. 

“Of course, my love. I'll do anything for you,” Clearsight replied in a sweet voice. 

“Good, we're going to meet Moonwatcher, or Moon for short. She’s the one who released me from my prison,” Darkstalker said. 

“What prison?” Clearsight asked tilting her head. 

“Nothing important, just know she released me from my prison, she's a mind reader, but she can’t read your mind,” Darkstalker said. “She's the first dragon I meet when I woke, she's only four years old but she already delivered her first prophecy,”. 

Darkstalker continued to tell Clearsight about things she probably would need to know about Moon. 

“Look, it's almost time to go the garden party,” Darkstalker said taking Clearsight's talon in his own. “Let's go before anyone starts to miss us,” he gave a friendly smirk to Clearsight causing her to giggle. 

“Wait here until I come back with Moon, the come out,” Darkstalker instructed Clearsight when they got to the gardens. 

“Anything for you my love,” Clearsight said. 

 _Okaayyyy_ ,  Darkstalker  thought _, just_ _have to_ _wait until the morning then I can go for the real_ _Clearsight_ _, my_ _Clearsight_ _._  

 _Where would Moon be?_   Darkstalker  asked himself.  _I last saw her in the library, she does spend a lot of time there,_   Darkstalker  thought.  Darkstalker  flew to the library, it was an extremely short flight because of his massive size and giant wings. When  Darkstalker  landed silently outside the library he heard voices, not just Moon humming a tune like she normally does.  _Who's with her?_  Darkstalker latched on to her thoughts, careful to hide his thoughts so Moon won’t know he’s outside. 

 _Darkstalker_ _wouldn’t put any harmful spells on me, but they are pretty. I really hope me, and my friends won't need these._  Moons thoughts said. 

 _WHAT! She has a protection spell_ _ag_ _ainst_ _my spells, I promised she and her friends would be safe, and I've kept them safe. I thought she trusted me. The dragon with her must be one from her winglet, they're really the only ones I know who have Skyfire._ Darkstalker thought, sensing the fuzzy mind of someone with Skyfire. 

Not wanting Moon to know he was listening to her mind, Darkstalker slowly released some of his thoughts from the barrier around his mind. As Darkstalker walked into the library he made sure to make his footsteps heard. He took a deep breath and put on his exited face. 

“There you are, that party was SO boring without you. Don’t worry, Clearsight didn’t love them either.” Darkstalker said. Looking at Moon, then looking at the Sandwing standing next to her with his tail twined around Moons tail. _That must be_ _Qibli_. “Welcome to the Night kingdom, Qibli. I was wondering when you were going to show up. I didn’t think you’d be able to wait very long before coming to find Moon,” Darkstalker winked at Qibli.  

Qibli and Moon both looked flustered, as Qibli said “This is a really cool library,” he sped his wings indicating the great space the night kingdom library held. “So, am I supposed to call you Your Majesty now?”. 

Shrugging Darkstalker said, "You're not one of my subjects, so it’s up to you,”. “King Darkstalker,” he said repeating his title, "It’s weird how it's kind of feels exactly right and kind of it doesn’t fit,”. Then Darkstalker cast his gaze to Moon, his eyes flew directly to her earring. “New earring,” Darkstalker remarked. Darkstalker looked at Qibli through the corner of his eye, and no matter how hard Qibli tried to hide it, Darkstalker saw he wore a face of fear. _That’s right, I know you gave Moon the protection earring,_  Darkstalker thought. 

“Don’t be sad, you know it's just a precaution. You'd do the same thing, if our situations were reversed. Wouldn’t you?” Moon asked meeting Darkstalker's eyes. 

“Hmmmm, it just... reminds me of a bracelet that I made for someone once. Because she didn’t trust me. Which, turns out, should have been the other way around,” Darkstalker said.  _The_ _Clearsight_ _I created would never do that, but she just doesn’t feel right_ , Darkstalker thought. 

"You promised not to put spells on me or my friends, so these shouldn’t make a difference,” Moon reminded him tapping her earring. 

"I promised your friends would always be safe. What if you get attacked and I need to heal you, like I healed Stonemover? What if Qibli gets kidnapped and I can’t get him back for you? And all the beautiful magic I’ve made. No more dreamvisiting? I was going to fly you to one of the Moons-Dragons standing on an actual Moon, can you imagine?” Darkstalker argued. 

“Let's see what happens,” Moon said firmly. 

 _This_ _Sandwing_ _is ruining my plans for the_ _Icewings_ _if he gave them earrings,_   Darkstalker  thought angerly.  Darkstalker  swiveled his massive head to look  Qibli  in the eye.  _What other things will you do to destroy what I've worked for._  

Darkstalker saw Qibli standing beside Moon looking down at a little Nightwing dragonet. _Could that dragonet be Moons and_ _Qibli’s_ _dragonet?_ Then  Darkstalker  looked at them again _. That can't be their dragonet, this is_ _in the near future_ _._ Darkstalker  looked at another one where he had made  Qibli  a animus and  Qibli  ruled the content with him, and Moon as his mate. And besides them, next to  Darkstalker ,  Clearsight  stood leaning into  Darkstalker ' s  large wings.  _I like this one_ , Darkstalker thought. 

Then the timelines started to shift around. Darkstalker saw Qibli next to a Sandwing wearing a black cabochon necklace, accented with dragon wings made from molded, beaten gold. And standing off to the side he saw the Icewing from Moons winglet, he had an icy white wing around Moon.  _The_ _Icewing_ _with Moon,_ _Hmmmm_ _either I took of the spell I put on him, or he has a protection earring on too._   Darkstalker  saw others with  Qibli  in the halls of the  Sandwing  stronghold and with Moon and him together _. Ha, smart dragonet, you tried to change your future by committing yourself to ones that won’t alarm me, I better watch out for you._  

Darkstalker smiled and chuckled at Qibli, to hide the fact that he knows what Qibli was trying to alter his future. _It's not so easy to change your destiny,_  Darkstalker thought. “Well, do what you feel you have to do,” Darkstalker said putting as much cheer in his voice as he could. “Can you come outside for a moment? I want you to meet someone,” Darkstalker said to Moon. 

 _Well that went better than I thought, now_ _Qibli_ _knows_ _Darkstalker_ _is not someone to worry about._  Moon thought. 

 _Yes, see_ _Sandwing_ _, I mean you no harm, just stay out of my way and we can all have the futures we want for ourselves._  Darkstalker thought. 

Moon flew up to her get her torch and followed Darkstalker through the central room, through the arched doors, and to the palace gardens. Darkstalker stopped by one of the large columns,  _come out_ _Clearsight_ _,_ he thought. 

Then the beautiful dragon he had known and loved stepped out from behind the column. As Clearsight made her way towards them, she brushed her large elegant wings against the columns lining the pathway to the gardens. 

 _Clearsight_ _, how I wish it was really you, not someone I created,_ Darkstalker thought with a sigh. “Moon, Qibli,” Darkstalker said in a low voice. "I’d like you to meet Clearsight,”. 

A look of shock washed over both Moon’s and Qibli’s face. Moon was the first to react.  

“Clearsight? Clearsight like... the Clearsight from two thousand years ago?” Moon asked in a startled voice. 

"Yes, my Clearsight,” Darkstalker said reaching out a talon as Clearsight took it, smiling at him. 

“That’s... not possible... how is this possible,” Moon said taking a step closer to Clearsight.  _What has_ _Darkstalker_ _done? Has he enchanted her to be immortal too, and have they forgiven each other for what happened two thousand years ago?_ _Darkstalker_ _seems happy to have her back, I wonder what_ _Clearsight_ _has been doing all these years,_  Moon thought. 

"It’s nice to meet you Moon, Darkstalker’s been telling me all about you and how you helped set him free,” Clearsight said looking down fondly at the young Nightwing. 

“That's not exactly-”  _what happened._  her mind finished. Moon hesitated. “How are you alive right now?” she asked. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Clearsight asked. 

 _She won’t know what happened_ ,  Darkstarker  thought. “How she’s alive isn’t important,”  Darkstalker  said quickly before Moon could figure out its not  Clearsight , and was another dragon. “What’s important is that she’s here now. She can rule the tribe with me. We're getting married tomorrow,” _And  I’ll marry the real_ _Clearsight_ _, my_ _Clearsight_ _._  

“That's right,” Clearsight said dreamily. 

“Married? After everything that happened with... the bracelet and... the murder?” Moon asked. 

“All forgiven,” Darkstalker said staring into Clearsight's deep purple eyes. Clearsight gazed affectionately back at him.  

“And you?” Qibli said finally finding his voice. 

“For what,” Clearsight said still distracted by Darkstalker. 

“Darkstalker? What-” Moon started. 

"I mean yes of course, I forgive him too,” Clearsight said cutting of Moon and turning to look at the dragonet. 

"Your visions of the future are legendary. I'd love to know how you do it- how you can send your sight down each possible path and study all the futures at once,” Moon said breaking the silence. 

“Oh,” Clearsight sighed. "You know, I'm not really interested in studying the future anymore. I'd rather live in the present,” Clearsight said with a board expression. 

 _What is happening_ _Clearsight_ _? Not interested in the future? What kind of enchantment has_ _Darkstalker_ _put on her?_ Moon thought hurting Darkstalker deeply. 

 _Maybe_ _I shouldn’t create a fake_ _Clearsight_ _, Moons going to find out its another dragon sooner or later,_ Darkstalker thought. 

“Seriously? You?” Moon said wrinkling her snout. 

“She’s a little different after two thousand years, that’s all. “This is better, though. She always worried about the future too much. Now she won’t worry, and we can be happy, and everything will be fine.” Darkstalker said hurriedly. Darkstalker nudged one of Clearsight's wings causing her to smile. 

“But-I still- how" Moon started. 

“Enough questions, Clearsight is tired,” Darkstalker said.  _Got to get out of here before Moon figures out its_ _Fierceteeth_ _._ Darkstalker thought to himself. "I’m going to show her around our palace and find her a royal suite of her own. Please join us for breakfast in the morning. We're all going to be great friends, you can come too, Qibli,” Darkstalker said dipping his head towards Qibli and Moon. 

Darkstalker put one wing around Clearsight and walked towards the palace, as Clearsight waved to the dragonets. Then when they were far enough to fly without knocking over the small dragonets with their large wings, they took off towards the palace. 

 _I don’t think Moon figured out that this isn’t_ _Clearsight_ _,_   Darkstalker  thought. _But now Moon thinks I enchanted her and is now afraid that I'll try to enchant her friends. When I get_ _Clearsight_ _back I'll change this,_ Darkstalker thought determinedly. 

"Your friends are nice, is the Sandwing with her mate?” Clearsight asked. 

“No, but in some futures, they become mates and they’ll rule the tribe alongside you and me,” Darkstalker said. 

“So, where am I going to stay for my time at the castle with you, I can’t be in the royal suites like you said, that’s only for the royals, vigilance and her family,” Clearsight pointed out. 

 _Really, you haven't noticed, I've been saying things like, you’ll be my queen, or we’ll rule the tribe together?_  Darkstalker thought, annoyed. “Just trust me, you’ll be fine in the suites,”. 

“Of cores I trust you,” Clearsight insisted. "It’s just- did vigilance give me the suite to stay in?”. 

"Yes, I reserved it for you,” Darkstalker lied. 

When they arrived at the balcony of the throne room Darkstalker lead Clearsight inside. “Clearsight?” Darkstalker asked. 

"Yes,” Clearsight said. 

“Do- Do you remember anything I said about ruling the night kingdom?” Darkstalker asked taking a step closer. 

“No, you’re a good dragon, you would never try to steal the throne, or kill a queen to become king”. 

And for a moment, Darkstalker was talking to HIS Clearsight, when they were dragonets, when Clearsight still believed he was good. Then it hit Darkstalker like a wave.  

“Clearsight, I miss you, I need you. I- I'm already lost without you, please come back to me, please,” Darkstalker pleaded in a quiet voice.  

"I’m here, I'm still with you,” Clearsight said in a low soothing voice. 

“Freeze,” Darkstalker said, standing up and looking down on Clearsight crouching on the floor. "I need my Clearsight, not you,” Darkstalker said looking at Clearsight with ice in his eyes. Swiftly Darkstalker spun on his heals and ran to his treasure box. He dug around looking for something he could use to enchant, the problem was everything was too small, nothing was sturdy enough and large enough. Then a silver band caught Darkstalker's eye. The band had a scale carve on it with hints of gold accent around the rim and embedded in the center was a purple ruby. Darkstalker tested the strength of the band. 

 _Strong, this might work, I'll probably have to enchant it to enlarge though,_ Darkstalker thought. 

“Enchant this band to enlarge to the size so it can fit on my wrist securely but not too tight,” Darkstalker murmured to the band. 

The band started to enlarge to the size of Darkstalker's wrist, by the time it was done the band was the size of a young dragonet. Darkstalker unclasped the band and clasped it onto his wrist.  _Not to tight,_   Darkstalker  commented. Then  Darkstalker  tried to pry it off himself, with no success _. Tight and secure, this will do._  

Darkstalker then went to his desk to look for the spell he had created the other day. When he found it, he read through it a couple times making small tweaks to the spell, then finally he was ready. Darkstalker put one talon on his silver band and whispered, “Enchant this band to allow Darkstalker of the Night and Icewings to travel back in time to the time he commands this bracelet to take him, and when Darkstalker wants to return to this current time, now, he says the word, return. And all dragons in contact with Darkstalker when he travels through time will be moved through time with him,”. 

Darkstalker peered at the futures ahead for him, they were so hard to read, some with him dying in battle in a few seconds others with him and an animus Icewing fighting on a snowy mountain. And the next one he saw was extremely shocking, Clearsight stood over his body with blood pouring from a gash in his throat, and his deep purple blood on her claws and teeth.  _No this can’t be_ _Clearsight_ _, she would never kill anyone, she would never harm me,_ his mind tried to convince himself. But  Darkstalker  could recognize that face anywhere, it was  Clearsight .  _How can so many different futures happen so soon with so many different outcomes?_ Then his eye caught onto the reflection of his bracelet catching the sun’s rays rising from over the mountains.  _This must mean this bracelet really works, it really works! I can finally get my_ _Clearsight_ _back!_   Darkstalker  thought excitedly.  _Let's see how can I test it? I could try to reverse time back a couple hours._  

“Last night, at three,” Darkstalker murmured. 

Then a breeze of wind blew through the windows as Darkstalker closed his eyes, a moment later he opened them. He looked around the room he was in, it was still the throne room, but the suns morning rays were non-existent. Darkstalker stepped out onto the balcony hopping to catch sight of himself helping prepare the garden party. And it was easy spotting a large dragon in the middle of the lush gardens.  

 _That’s me, this is a weird_ _fe_ _e_ _ling_ _, seeing yourself_ ,  Darkstalker  thought.  _This bracelet does work_ , his mind said as he looked down at the bracelet in astonishment.  _Now for the final part of this test,_ “Return,” then the gust of wind came back, but this time Darkstalker kept his eyes open. And in two seconds he saw the dragons from the past faded away replaced by the real dragons in the present. 

 _I did it! I made a device that allows me to move through time, I am truly the smartest animus of all time._  

“Clearsight I'm coming for you, just wait, we'll have the future we were meant to have, together,”. 

"I guess I have to be standing in the place I want to be when I'm in the past, I have to go to Agate mountain,” Darkstalker said grimly. 

Luckily the balcony was large enough to allow Darkstalker to take off from them.  _Agate mountain, I got to get there before Moon suspects I'm up to something._  

The flight was a lot shorter than the last time he had flown to this place from the night kingdom, _two thousand years ago_ , his mind whispered. 

When he landed at the place where his former prison was causing him to shiver at the memory of the cool metal being slid onto his wrist. 

“Okay,” Darkstallker said with a sigh, “Take me back to the year 3,012, the night when Clearsight put the enchanted Moonstone bracelet on me,”.  

Again, the wind whirled around Darkstalker and during the time jump Darkstalker felt the rocks move from under him, and agate mountain was whole again. _See_ _Clearsight_ _, I told you, we can do whatever we want to the futures_ . Then  Darkstalker  saw a figure winging their way to the mountain from the south. _That must be_ _Clearsight_ _! I_ _actually get_ _to see the real her again! I better hide, I should approach her after she put me to sleep, I don’t know how timelines will change if I see my past self,_  Darkstalker thought. 

Darkstalker found a large branch- or for him, a stick. “Enchant this stick so that if Darkstalker of the Nightwings is holding it, it will; make him invisible and completely undetectable. “Now there's only one way to figure out if it works,”. 

Darkstalker stepped out into the open and spread his large wings, _if I'm seeable Clearsight should see me_. But Clearsight continued to wing her way closer to Agate mountain. When Clearsight landed on the mountain she took no notice of Darkstalker. 

Darkstalker waved a large talon in front of Clearsight's face, she was oblivious.  _I guess this must mean it works._ _Clearsight_ _, we'll be together again, like we were always meant to be._  

Clearsight looked around the mountain and looked straight at Darkstalker's prison. Clearsight walked towards the cave and stuck her head in the cave and breathed a plume of fire to light the cave. “This might make do if things continue,” Clearsight said sorrowfully looking into the infinite inky blackness. 

Clearsight took a step back and looked out to the rising sun casting deep shadows over the mountains. After a couple minutes of waiting Darkstalker saw himself flying furiously towards agate mountain. Darkstalker saw himself land on the small ledge by the opening of the cave Clearsight sat in. 

"Did you know, that this won’t be the tallest mountain in Pyrrhia anymore? There's going to be an earthquake and this whole side of the mountain will collapse, the jade mountain will be the tallest,” Clearsight said thoughtfully. 

"Is that supposed to be a metaphor? Something about the most powerful dragon falling and someone else taking their place? Because it’s a bit muddled, not your best work,” Darkstalker commented sourly. 

Clearsight laughed “No, not a metaphor. I just found it interesting a piece of the future that’s defiantly true,”. 

“Anything about the future can be changed. Evan that, I could enchant this mountain to stay up if I wanted to. We can make the future turn out however we like,” Darkstalker said. 

“Not if we want different things,” Clearsight said shaking her head and shredding the petals off a flower she pulled from the ground. “Not if we can't ever agree on what's right and what's wrong,”. 

 "If you don’t want to be with me just say so,” Darkstalker saw himself say and take a step closer to Clearsight. 

“Nothing I did worked, I thought I was so careful, and we still ended up hear. All the studying all the time scrolls. Now that it’s happened, I can’t change any of it. I still don’t know where it went all wrong,” Clearsight said, gritting her teeth and shouting the last part to Darkstalker. 

“Because it didn’t, it's not wrong where still on the right path Clearsight. Where so close to our happy future. The bad parts almost over, almost all my enemies are dead,” Darkstalker said taking another step closer to Clearsight. 

"Including Indigo?” Clearsight said raising her head to look Darkstalker in the eyes, a challenge burning in hers. 

“What do you mean? Indigo left, that had nothing to do with me,” Darkstalker said innocently. 

“Maybe it started when you first lied to me, or maybe losing Foeslayer without being able to do anything about it. Maybe it was all the small moments wear you felt threatened or powerless or out of control, and all those things you did to fight those feeling's,” Clearsight said looking away from Darkstalker and looking to the rising sun. 

“Everything I've done I've done for a good reason. To protect you, or Whiteout or our future dragonets. Why can't you trust me?” Darkstalker said furiously. 

“Or maybe it's just a part of you, something that you hatched with. Maybe that’s what you really got from your father, along with your magic. Maybe you were always going to turn out this way, on matter how I tried to save you,” Clearsight said. 

Evan though the words where directed to Darkstalker's past self the words silt hurt Darkstalker deeply. 

Darkstlker watched his past self, lunge forward seizing Clearsight's wrist and twisting it sharply. 

"I’m nothing like my father, I don’t need saving. I can choose my own future, and I like the one I see, and you're going to learn to like it, too. WHERE IS MY SCROLL!” Darkstalker snarled at Clearsight's face. 

Then Clearsight slid her Moonstone bracelet onto Darkstalker's arm. The look of shock and rage in Darkstalker's face at that moment was unforgettable. And for a brief moment Clearsight's mind was open, both Darkstalker's saw all the futures Clearsight feared and her last thought to Darkstalker was  _good-bye my dearest love._ Then Darkstalker collapsed into her arms. 

Clearsight then raised one talon to Darkstalker's neck to see if he was alive. Clearsight then dragged Darkstalker int the cave that would then become his two-thousand-year prison. The whole, time tears would spill from her eyes. 

 _She did love me, I'm so sorry I caused her so much pain,_  Darkstalker thought to himself. 

Clearsight then placed boulders around the rest of the cave blocking the exit. And without her shielding bracelet her thoughts where wide open to Darkstalker. _It worked. I did this. All those futures I saw, all the plans I made to take us along the right paths... that’s all gone now. We never got married, we never took the throne or stopped the war. We never had our dragonets._ Clearsight  thought sorrowfully.  _What am I going to do now?_   Darkstalker  could see that she knew there was no life for her back in the tribe. She knew going back to the tribe would make her lonelier and would result in her letting himself free. _I could stay with him. I could lie down in the path of the avalanche and wait to die._  

That caused a stab of gilt in Darkstalker's chest _. I can’t listen anymore, I'm so sorry_ _Clearsight_ _, I sorry I caused this much pain, I just wanted the best future for our dragonets and us, forgive me._  

Darkstalker walked out from his view point from the mountain and stepped onto a nearby ledge and dropped his stick. 

A large shadow suddenly appeared over Clearsight causing her to turn around, and her face went to one of grief to one of pure horror. 

 


	3. Chapter 2

_What?! This can’t be! What’s happening? Why didn’t I see this? What is he doing here? What is going on!?_ Clearsight’s mind screamed.

“Clearsight it’s me, well, I think you know,” Darkstalker said amused, tilting his head down.

“Your- your gone, asleep- how are you so large?”. Clearsight tried to say too shocked to say a proper sentence. “What! No, this can’t be! Your asleep, what is going on!” Clearsight said pressing a talon to her forehead

“Wait, calm it with the questions, it's me, the real me... just about two thousand years older,” Darkstalker said noticing how it hit Clearsight like a bomb. “It's okay, I'm not evil or anything, I'm completely sane,”.

_What! How has he traveled back in time? Did he do something to my visions, is that why I didn’t see this?_ Clearsights mind rambled on.  _No, I can still see how this changes possible outcomes, drastically._

“No, I haven't done anything to you, you're not under a spell or anything, I just enchanted a stick- or branch, to make me undetectable,” Darkstalker said. “See, completely sane,”.

“Why are you here? I mean what made you come back to this time? Are you trying to release yourself from the enchantment?” Clearsight asked, taking a step back placing herself between Darkstalker and the filled in cave of Darkstalker's past self.  _He can’t release himself, if he does_ _all of_ _Pyrrhia_ _will be in danger. I_ _have to_ _stop him or die trying._

Darkstalker investigated her mind as she looked at all the futures where he tried to release his past self, unsurprisingly to Darkstalker, she found only a couple unlikely ones.

“Don’t do that, I don’t want to release my past self, I'll be released anyway, even if it is two thousand years later,” Darkstalker said, slightly chuckling. “I’m here because I miss you, I'm so lonely without you. I've tried to do things to deal with the loss, but nothing works, I miss you. Come with me to my time,” darkstatalker said sincerely. Thinking of the Clearsight he tried to have replace Clearsight.

“I won’t, I don’t want to rule the tribe, I don’t want to have to kill to have a happy future, I won’t come back with you,” Clearsight said with traces of tears welling up in her eyes as she thought about all the horrible things Darkstalker did _. I can’t let him sway me, this is just like last time, if I_ _have to_ _fight a. enchantment, I will._  Clearsight thought determinedly.

“For the last time, I haven't put an enchantment on you, I promise, I will never put an enchantment on you if you come with me,” Darkstalker said.

_Shoot,_ _C_ _learsight_ _you_ _have to_ _be smarter, he's a mind reader, you don’t have your enchanted bracelet,_  Clearsight told herself. “How do I know you aren’t pretending, like the time you told me the earrings weren’t enchanted, but you enchanted them to mess with my power! How did you hide the spells from me anyway?” Clearsight said narrowing her eyes crouching lower to the ground.

“Clearsight,” Darkstalker said in a soothing gentle voice. “I miss you, that’s the truth, I love you the way you are, not some manipulated version of you.” seeing his chance to make Clearsight trust him, he took it. “I used invisible ink, that’s why some of the later spells were more spread out,”.

“If you really don't want a manipulated version of me tell me this, what did you do to Indigo?” Clearsight asked.  _Did you kill her? What horrible thing did you do to her?_  Clearsight thought to him.

“No, I wouldn’t kill a dragon Fathom cared for, I tuned her into a carved Seawing,” Darkstalker said.

“That’s about equal to killing her, is she still the carving?” Clearsight asked thinking of ways to release the purple Seawing.

“No, well, in my current time, two thousand years in the past for you, Indigo and Fathom are long dead,” Darkstalker said tilting his large head towards the morning sun.

“How do you know their dead? Did you kill them?” Clearsight asked.

“No, how could I possibly kill them, they died hundreds of years before I was released from my prison,” Darkstalker said nodding towards the cave behind Clearsight. “I know because I enchanted a scroll to tell me what happened to Fathom, Whiteout and you,” Darkstalker explained facing Clearsight again.

_I wonder what fate I'd have_ , Clearsight wondered.

“I don’t know, when I enchanted the scroll, nothing appeared. I would always wonder what happened to you. But now I don’t have to wonder! Please come back, I’m lost without you, I- I need you,” Darkstalker admitted.

_My love, I’ll miss you too, but I can’t be in a future where you kill a queen to take the_ _N_ _ightwing_ _throne, I'll miss you. Please let me live my own life, without murder, pain and death._ Clearsight told drakstalker with her mind.

“We don’t need to kill a queen to rule the Nightwings, I'm already the king, you just need to be my queen,” Darkstalker told Clearsight. “A Rainwing was ruling the Nightwings, she said any Nightwings that want me to be their king can follow me. Most of the tribe chose me a king, I didn’t have to kill to be king. This can be our prefect future, one where I can have what I want, and you can have what. We can rule the Nightwings and bring peace and you and our dragonets will be safe. And we won’t kill, we can also bring Fathom and Indigo back, we can fix the past present and future,” Darkstalker said, knowing his words had a big impact on Clearsight.

“What about Icewings? Are you still after revenge? The Icewings won’t ever be safe with you after revenge for Foeslayer,” Clearsight said sadly. _No one can ever be safe with you out for revenge._

“You don’t understand, I can get her back, this cycle of revenge can be over. We can get Whiteout back, your friend listener, we can bring back anyone!” Darkstalker said slightly spreading his wings.

“No! That can have a big impact on the future, or in your case, the present,” Clearsight said franticly. “I mean, if you take Whiteout out of the past, her and thoughtful might never have dragonets. Her decedents might play an important part of Pyrrhia’s future,” Clearsight said as her brows furrowed.

“That's okay, I can fix all the bad things,” Darkstalker insisted.

“No! If you use your magic to solve your problems, things might end up the same way as they already have!”Clearsight said desperately. _I can’t let this happen again, so many things have happened it can't happen again_ _._

“Please Clearsight, there are so many dragons I'd like you to meet, please come back to me, I need you. I can’t live without you,” Darkstalker said grabbing the earth beneath his talons causing the plant life beneath him to die. 

“I think you can live without me, if you really need me to live you should have listened to me!” Clearsight shouted throwing up her wings and talons. “Besides, your immortal, you can live without me,” Clearsight added sourly.

“Clearsight, I'm a different dragon now, I was blind by anger and the promise of glory. Now I just want our tribe to be great again, and to be with you,” Darkstalker said looking straight into Clearsights deep purple eyes. “I promise I'll listen to you all the time, I'll try my best to do what you say,”.

“No! You're just going to enchant me like you did before, I can’t trust you anymore,” Clearsight said flying up to Darkstalker's snout. “Now you don’t have to give me something to enchant me, you can just write a spell in invisible ink on your scroll!” Clearsight shouted. _I can’t ever trust you again! You'll always be like you were when you enchanted those earrings!_ Clearsights mind screamed at Darkstalker.

This would make the Darkstalker Clearsight knew angry, but to Darkstalker they just stung, like someone dragging a blade across his scales without his scales being enchanted.

“Clearsight, two thousand years can change a dragon a lot. I'm not the same dragon you had to imprison in a mountain. I don’t want to continue life without you,” Darkstalker pleaded Clearsight.

“I don’t want to rule a tribe, I just wanted us to have a peaceful life,” Clearsight said.  _I saw so many happy futures, but they weren't met to be_ , Clearsight thought, and Darkstalker saw tears sparkle by Clearsights deep purple eyes.

“We can still have our happy future, I promise I won't do anything you don’t want me to do,” Darkstalker said. “I need you, I'm lost without you, please help me,” Darkstalker pleaded.

_I shouldn’t, but our tribe, I want to help them_ , Clearsight thought.

“I’ll give you as much time as you want, just please come with me,” Darkstalker said.

_He does seem to be different... Snap out of it, he’s probably using his magic!_  Clearsight thought.

_I should probably tell her I don’t have the scroll anymore_ , Darkstalker mused.

_How would I know if he's using his magic on me? I do miss him, the good version of him. I think I should go with him, just in case he goes power crazy like last time. I really hope_ _Dar_ _kstalker’s_ _telling the truth,_  Clearsight thought.  Clearsight tried to look into the future like she had been doing the whole time. Clearsight saw so many odd and hard to read futures like Darkstalker did when he tried to look into the future.  _I want to go with him, is that wrong?_ Clearsight asked herself.  _I think my best option is to go with_ _Darkstaker_ _, I might be the only one able to stop him if things get out of control._

“Okay, you promise you won't enchant me and won’t do anything I don’t want you to do?” Clearsight asked raising an eyebrow.

“I’ll do anything to have you back,” Darkstalker said pressing a talon to his chest.

“Okay, I'll go with you back to your time,” Clearsight said letting out a deep breath she had been holding.

“Thank you! Thank you! If you didn’t come with me, I don’t know what I would have done. I've only been awake for a couple months, but every day it always felt like a part of me was gone. I have so many dragons I want you to meet. I have this friend, Moon, she’s the best, she reminds me so much of you. She like a mini you. She has this Sandwing friend that kind of reminds me of Fathom. And I met a decedent of Whiteout, she stopped a war that raged on between the dragon tribes. Whiteouts decedents name is sunny, Sunnys mother is the Sandwing queen. Apparently the old Sandwing queen was killed by some scavengers of something like that,” Darkstalker rambled on.

“Darkstalker, when are we going to see your time?” Clearsight asked giggling slightly at Darkstalker's rambling.

“Yes, Okay hold on,” Darkstalker said holding out a large talon. Clearsight grabbed onto Darkstalkers wrist tightly. “You don’t have to hold on that tight, just hold on and don’t let go,” Darkstalker instructed. “Return,” Darkstalker whispered as a breeze of wind whirled around the two dragons.

“Ekk!” Clearsight said as the rocks beneath them started to move.  Darkstalker felt Clearsight grip loosen and Darkstalker quickly grabbed her by her wrist. After a few moments the mountain stopped moving and the wind started to die down. When Darkstalker looked around the sun was in the same place as it was when Darkstalker left to retrieve Clearsight.

“Wow,” Clearsight gasped as she looked at the rubble beneath their talons from agate mountain. Darksatalker looked down at the boulders beneath them, Darkstalker didn’t see many larger than himself, but almost all where larger than Clearsight.

“So, care to tell me about this time, actually tell me everything you’ve done,” Clearsight said wriggling her wrist out of Darkstalkers grasp. 

“So, do you want to hear the bad thing first or the good things?” Darkstalker asked.

“What, What! What have you done?” Clearsight asked narrowing her eyes looking just like Moon when she glared at dragons.

“Welllllll... for starters I created a plague that’s supposed to wipe out most Icewings. Ummmm... I enchanted almost all the dragons I meet to like me. I've also enchanted an animus to lose his animus magic,” Darkstalker said slowly. “But I can change that now if you’d like,” Darkstalker added hurriedly.

_He is the same_ , Clearsight thought horrified. “I thought you said your good now,” Clearsight whispered horrified. “I knew I couldn’t trust you!”.

“Please Clearsight, I will turn things back. Please believe me,” Darkstalker pleaded.

“I’ll give you a chance to make things right but stop the Icewing plague as soon as you can write it in your scroll,” Clearsight told Darkstalker flaring her wings slightly.

“Actually, I don’t have my scroll with me anymore. It was destroyed, so I enchanted a bracelet to keep my soul safe from animus magic. But I'll stop the Icewing plague now,” Darkstalker said. Avoiding Clearsights eyes.

“fine, stop the Icewing plague now, but if you aren’t going to create another scroll how am I supposed to believe you aren’t going to go crazy from using animus magic?” Clearsight asked.

“I think your visions are working, you can tell me,” Darkstalker said sitting up. “Enchant the Icewing plague to end and all infected Icewings are back at full health,” Darkstalker murmured in a deep voice.

After Darkstalker finished casting that spell he saw Clearsight was checking the futures with Icewing, Clearsight saw that the Icewings were healed from the plague, but somehow, they knew it was Darkstalker that caused it. “A war is coming between the Nightwings and the Icewings,” Clearsight said in a deep voice looking Darkstalker in the eye. “This is your fault! If you didn’t create the plague out tribe would be safe!” Clearsight screamed flying up to darkstallkers head.

“It's fine, they can’t get over the mountains to the night kingdom, right?” Darkstalker asked, but he already knew the answer from Clearsights mind. 

_How are the_ _Icewing_ _s_ _past the_ _night kingdom_ _boarder_? Then Clearsight saw a golden earring on the ear of an Icewing. Are those protection from animus magic? Clearsight wondered studying futures with the earrings.

“No, those are enchanted to make the wearer immune to my spells,” Darkstalker said narrowing his eyes.

“Who enchanted all of them, an animus dragon would go mad if they enchanted an earring for every dragon in a whole tribe,” Claersight pointed out.

“I don’t know how, but the dragon who enchanted the earrings, I think is a descendent of Fathom. He’s the dragon who’s power I took away,” Darkstalker said slowly.

“Why did you take awry his power?” Clearsight asked.

“He was working agents me, he was trying to put me back to sleep or something,” Darkstalker said with a low growl clenching his talons.

“you should undo almost all the spells you've done, I feel if dragons are working agents you, you did some bad things,” Clearsight said wringing her talons.

“I- I guess you're right,” Darkstalker sighed. “How about I enchant a piece of paper to tell you what spells I've cast, and you can choose which ones you’d like me to undo,” Darkstalker offered.

_Something doesn’t seem right, is he_ _manipulating_ _me?_ wondered Clearsight. “You do seem different, are you trying to manipulate me without putting me under a spell?” Clearsight asked standing up taller with a challenging look in her eyes.

“No! This is the real me, I’ll do anything for you Clearsight that’s the truth,” Darkstalker said quietly felling tears start to well up in his eyes.

_Oh_ _Darkstalker_ _, this is the_ _version_ _of him I loved, the one who would do anything for me,_  clearesight thought. Clearsight then peered into possible futures of her life with Darkstalker. She saw many futures with her and Darkstalker happy together with their dragonets. But Clearsight also saw darker paths, ones with Darkstalker ruling all the dragon tribes, or fighting a war between the Icewing and Nightwings.

“I think you should enchant a piece of paper to list all your spells,” Clearsight sighed. “I might ask other dragons for their opinion on you.” Clearsight said quietly to herself.

“You can do whatever you want, but please stand by my side as my queen,” Darkstalker said. “I love you, and I'll do anything you want me to, my power is your power,” Darkstalker said slightly bowing down to Clearsight.

“You promise you won’t do anything I disapprove of?”Clearsight asked taking a step closer to Darkstalker.

“I promise you,” Darkstalker answered truthfully.

“Then take me to the night kingdom, I want to see how our tribe has changed,” Clearsight said with a slight smile tugging at her mouth.

“I should warn you, I gave a lot of Nightwings super powers,” Darkstalker said shrugging his wings slightly.

“Wait. You WHAT! You gave our tribe powers! What kind of powers did you give them?” Clearsight said shocked. _I hope he didn’t give them some type of powers that makes them more_ _dangerous_ _._

“No, I gave them powers like healing, fast flight, the power to garden well and this one dragonet can bring his drawings to life, he doesn’t make anything dangerous, mostly bananas,” Darkstalker said with a laugh.

“then couldn’t you give him the power to summon bananas?”Clearsigts asked giggling.

_That’s the_ _Clearsight_ _I knew. I knew she’d be happy with me,_  Darkstalker thought smiling. “I thought you wanted to see the night kingdom, let's go before the sun rises too high,” Darkstalker said smiling at Clearsight.

They lifted off the rubble of agate mountain Darkstalker flew much faster than Clearsight, Darkstalker didn’t know he was leaving Clearsight behind until she called out. “Wait! I'm not as fast as you are, you are much bigger than me after all,” Clearsight panted.

“Sorry, I'm not used to being able to fly this fast, I've only been out of my prison for a few weeks,” Darkstalker said as he started to hover in mid-air. When Clearsight caught up to him they started to fly again, but this time Darkstalker slowed to match Clearsights pace.

When they arrived at the night palace Clearsight let out a small gasp. “Wow, the kingdom looks the same as it did two thousand years ago, but older,” Clearsight commented. _I wonder if the beach is still around. I wonder what the gardens look like. THE LIBRARY!_ _Oh my_ _gosh I need to see the_ _library!_  Clearsight thought excitedly.

“We could see the palace gardens, then the library. The beach we went to doesn’t exist anymore, it's in the ocean. Over the course of two hundred years half of the night kingdom fell into the sea,” Darkstalker informed Clearsight.

“that's hardly any room for a whole tribe of dragons,” Clearsight said.

“Well our tribe is small, like less than half the size it was back in our time. The Nightwings lived on a volcanic island before they lived in the rainforest. Back on the volcanic island they couldn’t hatch under the Moons and so our tribe doesn’t have any mind reading or furure sight, unless I gave them that power,” Darkstalker said.

 “I know why they stopped having their eggs under the Moon, they were afraid of having anther Darkstalker, you,” Cleartsight said avoiding his eyes.

“You know, Moon told me the same thing,” Drkstalker said quietly. “You’d like Moon, your basically her idol,” Darkstalker told Clearsight.

“Really? I thought the tribe would despise me after everything that happened,” Clearsight said sadly.

“Well, the tribe didn’t know much of you or Fathom, but they made me sound like a terrifying monster. Some dragons thought I killed dragons by eating their brains. Gross!” Drkstalker said shivering at the thought of even touching a brain.

“I do agree that is gross. But to be fair you kind of did eat Arctic’s brain,” Clearsight said.

“What how?” Darkstalker asked.

“you took control of him, a bit like taking control of someone's brain. Then you killed him by having him disembowel himself,” Clearsight said flatly.

“I had to do it, he was going to take Whiteout,” Darkstalker said.

“There were other ways you know,” Clearsight said.

“It had to happen,” Darkstalker growled.

“Can we go to the palace? I'm getting tired,” Clearsight said quietly.

“Ok, you can have one of the royal suites,” Darkstalker said.

When they arrived at the royal suites Darkstalker used his magic to restore the room and clean it.

“I'm going to sleep,” Clearsight said curling up on the fluffy pillows in the room.

“Okay, when you wake up come to the throne room, that’s where I'll be,” Darkstalker told Clearsight as he closed the door on the way out of the room.

_I did it! I have_ _Clearsight_ _back, it’s the real her!_  Darkstalker thought happily. Then another question started to tug at the edge of Darkstalkers mind.  _I_ _brought_ _Clearsight_ _back, who next?_


	4. chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t understand the language of the lost continent dragons so in this chapter they’ll speak the Pyrrhia dragon's language. Graphic depictions of violence on part one of this chapter.

~~~~Meanwhile on the lost continent year 3012~~~~

The storm was getting worse. Trees roots were starting to be pulled from the ground, and some of the weaker trees had snapped and were whirling with the wind hitting the dragons who tried to take to the sky. _  If only we knew this storm were coming, _ Sunstreak  thought gritting his teeth as he pushed  ag ainst  the winds, to get to the wingless dragonets clinging to a large tree. 

The branches of the tree were snapping off causing the wingless dragonets to move more inward to the tree.  Sunstreak  pushed harder  ag ainst  the howling winds until he made it to the roots of the large oak.

“Climb down, but hold on to the trunk of the tree,”  Sunstreak  shouted as a large branch from the tree blew away, taking the little indigo  Silkwing  with it. The dragon screamed a rattling scream that shook  Sunstreaks  bones. Before  Sunstreak  knew what, he was doing he leaped into the howling windstorm after the indigo dragonet. Moving quickly  Sunstreak  managed to grab the chestnut brown branch as his claws dug into the soft wood. 

The indigo dragonet’s claws started to slip lose from the branch. Her left talon started to be pulled away into the wind. The wind didn’t cease until she was hanging on to the wood with one talon.  Sunstreak  could see her talon was slipping in the hurricane, and at the last second, he grabbed the indigo dragon's small wrist.

Sunstreak  let go of the branch and started to fly desperately towards the coast, which was barely visible with all the branches and trees flying around.  _ Come on _ ,  Sunstreak  thought pushing  ag ainst  the strong winds, until a gust of wind blew their direction, blowing them onto the cliff. Seeing that he was going to hit the cliff at high speed,  Sunstreak  folded his wings around the indigo dragonet, and curled himself inward becoming as small as possible. 

The impact knocked the wind out of  Sunstreak  causing him to open his four wings.  Sunstreak  skidded across the rocky ground causing the scales on his back to be scraped and chipped. The little dragonet managed to garb ahold of  Sunstreaks  talon before she could be blown away into the raging hurricane once more. 

Feeling himself be dragged around by the wind  Sunstreak  dug his free talons into the wet ground and stood up, despite the sharp pain in his left forearm and bleeding scrapes on his back.  Sunstreak  pulled the dragonet under his wing and clawed his way to the cave most dragons were taking shelter in. 

“Th- t-tank you,” the dragonet said shaking with shock, as  Sunstreak  put her in the talons of a lime green Leafwing.

“Your welcome,”  Sunstreak  said as he whipped around to get the other dragonets in the tree.  Sunstreak  ran to the base of the tree and called out, “Come down, we need to get into the cave before things get worse,”  Sunstreak  shouted, knowing the storm was far from over. The dragonets in the tree looked at one another before a magenta and c erulean dragonet climbed down the tree.  Sunstreak  grabbed hold of the dragonet and swiftly made his way to the cave and gave the dragonet to a  Hivewing  this time.

Sunstreak  went back for the other dragonets until the dragonets were all in the cave. Spotting a brown and viridian green dragon in front of him,  Sunstreak  called out to him, “The dragonets are safe, are there anymore dragons left?”  Sunstreak  called to the Leafwing who was fighting the wind just to stay on the ground. 

The Leafwing got closer and replied, “I just did a role count, we have almost everyone, some are missing or...” The Leafwing trailed off not wanting to say what most likely happened to all the dragons who tried to escape.

“Let's get to the cave, we won’t be able to stay out here much longer,”  Sunstreak  said to the Leafwing over the whirling winds that consumed the lands.

Sunstreak  and the Leafwing, Fern, made their way back to the cave slowly. When they were in the cave everyone in the cave were deathly still. A Leafwing named Rosemary, treated the wounds of the injured dragons, other than that there was no sound coming from the dragons in the cave. 

After hours in the cave the noise from the wind started to quiet down. “I’m going to check if the storm’s over,”  Sunstreak  announced breaking the silence in the cave. No one said anything and  Sunstreak  started to make his way to the tunnel that led outside, no one  made an attempt  to stop him. _  I guess that means I can check outside, _ Sunstreak  thought.  Sunstreak  made his way through the twisting tunnel until he reached outside.  Sunstreak  stepped out into what was left of the dragons once  beautiful  home.

The sun had set, and the stars were shining in the clear sky. The ground beneath  Sunstreak  was soaked, and  Sunstreak’s  talons were deep in mud. Trees and branches littered the ground and trees roots were pulled from the ground. The houses the dragons once lived in were torn apart and tossed on the remains of their once  beautiful  forest. A cobalt lilac spot caught  Sunstreak’s  eye.

“What-”  Sunstreak  started then he realized what the cobalt and lilac spot  Sunstreak  saw under a tree in the distance.  Sunstreak  flew over to the cobalt and lilac figure under the tree.  Sunstreak  stopped about five dragon lengths away when his eyes moved over the body it caused  Sunstreak  to gag. 

Under the tree was the corpse of a  Silkwing  about the age of nine. The dragons left rear wing was completely torn of leaving a bloody stub. The front right wing seemed to be dislocated, pushed into an awkward angle. The dragon was covered with red mud, dyed by the dragon's blood. The dragon had scratches all over its cheat and sides. The dragon's antenna had been snapped off along with their horn. The stomach of the dragon had many deep laceration wounds and many sharp sticks poking out from the corpse.

Sunstreak  didn’t think that the dragon was killed by the large tree on top of it. The dragon had a long deep gash with a red bloodied branch still imbedded in the neck of the dead  Silkwing . Some of the  Silkwings  claws were torn off leaving bloodied talons, making the dragon look as if he killed someone. The membranes connecting the wings were scratched and shredded, waving around in the night time wind.  Sunstreak  took a couple more steps closer to the dragon feeling the mud was thick with blood, dying his golden scales a brown red color.

The dragon was so cut up  Sunstreak  had trouble identifying it as a female.  _ This storm seemed to have killed this dragon with ease, who else was killed in the storm? _ Sunstreak  thought with a shudder as he looked down at his blood-stained talons.

Sunstreak  found a flooded lake to wash his red and brown talons off in. The image of the dead  Silkwing  brutally slashed remained in his mind making  Sunstreak  gag occasionally.  Sunstreak  made his way to the cave that the dragons who survived the storm were in. “The storms over, you can come out,”  Sunstreak  called into the tunnel.

Sunstreak  heard mummering from the dragons inside the cave, a  Hivewing  crawled out of the whole and stood up and looked around at what had become of their home. “I can’t believe what has happened. Our home is... gone,” Mantis said with disbelief. “What are we going to do now?” Mantis asked  Sunstreak  shaking his head.

“I-I- I don’t know, I think anyone who wasn’t in the cave with us probably died,”  Sunstreak  thought grimly thinking of the distorted corpse of the young female  Silkwing  he found. 

After the sun rose over their destroyed home the dragons sent out search parties for any possible surviving dragons, and to find and identify the dead. “ Sunstreak , we found 14 dead, and one injured Leafwing,” Fern told  Sunstreak  sorrowfully.

“I hope this is the only thing terrible that will happen in a long time,”  Sunstreak  said to himself. “Who’s dead?”  Sunstreak  asked turning to look at the Leafwing besides him.

“Seven  Silkwings , five of them dragonets one elderly, and the one you found. Four Leafwings all adults. Three  Hivewings  one young adult and an elderly one,” Fern said closing his eyes and bowing his head. “The dragons want to know what to do, they look up to you as a leader,” he added opening his eyes, but keeping his head bowed.

“Me? A leader? I don’t know if I could, I want to, but I don’t know if I can. I'll try if that’s what everyone wants though,”  Sunstreak  said.  _ Can I lead a whole village of dragons? Especially after a disaster this great? I'll do what I can,  _ Sunstreak  thought determinedly.

“We should head inland and see what we can find there,”  Sunstreak  said confidently. _  What other disasters might happen? I wish we could predict the disasters, _ Sunstreak  thought with a sigh.  Sunstreak  set his jaw. _  I'll be more prepared for these disasters, I promise. _

Sunstreak looked into  the sun as it sunk below the vast blue sea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Darkstalker  paced in his room waiting impatiently for  Clearsight .  _ What's taking her so long? The moons have been up for about an hour now, _ Darkstalker  thought, waiting impatiently to tell  Clearsight  what he had thought of, during the time she was asleep.  _ Clearsight _ _  will love it, I think. I mean why wouldn’t she love it? This might be the one chance for her to get what she wanted this whole time, _ Darkstalker  thought.

Just then  Darkstalker  heard the mind of a dragon approaching.  Darkstalker  stopped pacing and stood up trying to look as regal as possible. As the dragon got closer  Darkstalker  could see the dragon tracing timelines.  _ Clearsight _ _ , finally! _ Darkstalker  thought relaxing his posture as  Clearsight  walked into the large room.

Clearsight  looked uncomfortable in the throne room as memories of large guards pouncing on her filled her mind.  Clearsight  also had many thoughts on how belonging in the throne room didn’t seem right.  _ This isn’t right, being royalty, it's not right. But if  _ _ Darkstalker _ _  is telling the truth, there's no royal willing to rule the tribe, then I guess this might have been bound to happen, _ Clearsight  thought as she sat across the room from  Darkstalker  pulling her wings in as close as she could.

“So, what are we supposed to do?”  Clearsight  asked as her mind skimmed the futures ahead of them.

“Well, I did promise my friend that you and I were going to have breakfast with her. She might bring her  Sandwing  friend. My friends name is Moon,”  Darkstalker  said as he flicked his tail around his talons.

“Wait, you told her I was going to be at breakfast with her? Didn't that raise questions as to how I'd be at breakfast when I've been gone for two thousand years?”  Clearsight  asked leaning forward slightly, raising an eyebrow.

“Well you know how I said I’ve created things to help deal with grief,”  Darkstalker  started slowly, looking down avoiding  Clearsights  hard gaze. “One of the things I created is this... Umm- it's- I created you and tried to implant your memories in the created version of you...”  Darkstalker  trailed off as  Clearsight’s  brain went into complete shock. 

_ He- what- a created version of me? How in  _ _ Pyrrhia _ _  did he do that? What spell did he use? Is that wrong? Is that wrong to create your own version of a lost loved one? _ Clearsights  brain continued to ask questions, none of which  Darkstalker  wanted to answer. When  Darkstalker  summoned the courage to look  Clearsight  in the eye her face was frozen in shock. Her mouth was agape as if someone had put heavy rocks that weighed her bottom jaw down. Her purple eyes were glazed over not paying attention to what they saw, and her wings were limply hanging from her taunt shoulders.

“So, yah. Will you come have breakfast with Moon and me?”  Darkstalker  asked tilting his head hopefully.

“Sure,”  Clearsight  said half paying attention. Her mind was buzzing with all the possibilities of what spell  Darkstalker  could have used to create his version of her.

“Oh, and after that I'd like to go over something I want to do, to see if you’ll approve,”  Darkstalker  said picking at his long, curved claws.

“Is this a spell that you're going to cast? Because if it is, I really don’t think you should use, your magic unless it's important,”  Clearsight  said focused now on preventing  Darkstalker  from casting any harmful spells.

“No, it's not a new spell,”  Darkstalker  reassured her, “I want to tell you about it, but I think we should get going to breakfast, we don’t want to be late,”  Darkstalker  said cheerfully winking at  Clearsight .

 “Where is breakfast?”  Clearsight  asked as she stood up and followed  Darkstalker  out of the throne room and into the main hall.

“The main dining hall,”  Darkstalker  called over his shoulder as he started to descend a flight of marble black staircase.

Clearsight  followed  Darkstalker  down the staircase leading to the main dining hall on the first floor of the large castle. The dining hall had a glass roof letting the light from the stars and the moon cast a soft glow across the floor of the main dining hall. The walls were marbled silver with hints of black and midnight purple. The walls were decorated with golden mirrors with silver accent around the frame of the mirrors. The dragons in the halls were sitting at polished garnet tables in groups laughing and joking with one another. Some dragons were showing off their powers that  Darkstalker  had bestowed upon them.

_ Darkstalker _ _  did give them powers, from the looks of it the dragons showing off don’t seem to have  _ _ poweres _ _  meant for battle, _ Clearsight  thought her eyes glued to a dragon waving her talon over a glass of water turning the water into blue marbles.  _ I wonder what power  _ _ Darkstalker _ _  gave her?  _ Clearsight  wondered, staring as they walked down the hall.

Darkstalker  spotted a pale dragon who stood out from the crowd of dark colored dragons walking around the hall. Moon spotted  Dakstalker  and started to wave at him and  Clearsight . As  Darkstalker  and  Clearsight  got closer to Moon and  Qibli , the thought of the dragons in the hall got louder.

_ It’s king  _ _ drakstaler _ _! _  one dragon thought. Another thought; _  is my power impressive enough, or is hers better?  _ Darkstalker  slipped all the thought into raindrops like he had done countless times at all the parities Vigilance hosted two thousand years ago.  Darkstalker  stopped a half of a dragon length from the table Moon and  Qibli  sat at. "Hello, Moon,  Qibli ,”  Darkstalker  said politely dipping his head in turn to the two dragonets before standing back letting  Clearsight  take a seat.  Darkstalker  stood because he was far too large for the seats that were meant for a one hundred-year-old dragon at most.

"Hello,”  Clearsight  said to the two dragonets sitting from across from them. “I’m  Clearsight ,”  Clearsight  said dipping her head at the two dragonets.

“Yah,”  Qibli  said slowly, “We met,”  Qibli  said spectacle.

_ Has  _ _ Darkstalker _ _  erased her memories? But I'd think  _ _ Darkstalker _ _  wouldn't want us to know. What's  _ _ Darkstalker _ _  playing at? _  Moon thought.

“No, you haven't,”  Clearsight  said flatly. “You met a created version of me, one  Darkstalker  created,”  Clearsight  said with no emotion in her voice, causing  Darkstalker  to flinch.

“ Darkstalker , what are you playing at? Why did you enchant her to tell the truth?” Moon asked tilting her head.

“Nothing, I'm not playing at anything. This is the real  Clearsight . I think you know, you can read her mind the fake her had no thoughts,”  Darkstalker  said, sensing a spike of discomfort from  Clearsight .

_ She does have thoughts. I could ask her questions only the real  _ _ Clearsight _ _  would know, but what if  _ _ Darkstalker _ _  gave her all her memories.  _ "How do you send your sight down many paths?” Moon asked  Clearsight ,  pinning her with her gaze.

“Well, for me it came naturally. I was a more gifted seer than most  Nightwings  in  Nightwing  history. I could  look into  the future willingly. The way I traced the paths are I chose a path that I want to follow, then I made a choice along that path it would lead me to what would happen if I made that choice, I then did that many times to the same path until I was satisfied with what I saw, then I could stop,”  Clearsight  said.  _ Or sometimes I never stop, _ Clearsight  thought sadly remembering all the time she spent tracing the future to keep  Darkstalker  from doing terrible things. 

A stab of gilt hit  Darkstalker  in the chest. _  I was just trying to do the right thing _ ,  Darkstalker  thought.

“So,  Clearsight , should I call you queen  Clearsight ?”  Qibli  asked.

“I don’t want to be queen, I just want the  Nightwings  to be safe, for everyone to be safe,”  Clearsight  said.  _ This is my second chance to make things right, I can’t fail. _

Moon must have head  Clearsight’s  thoughts because  Clearsights  words triggered a thought,  _ what if  _ _ Darkstalker _ _  did bring  _ _ Clearsight _ _  back from the dead! I thought animus magic can’t do that. What spell did he use? _  Moon was about to ask how  Clearsight  was hear, but  Qibli  beat her to it.

"How are you here, in this time?”  Qibli  asked leaning forward his tail twitching back and forth with curiosity.

Clearsight  glanced at  Darkstalker  as if asking permission.  Darkstalker  gave a slight nod. “ Darkstalker  created a device that can allow a dragon to move through time. He went to our time, and brought me back to this time,”  Clearsight  said giving as little detail as possible.

“What time did he take you from?” Moon asked looking at  Darkstalker  instead of  Clearsight . 

“I got her right after she put me to sleep with the enchanted bracelet,”  Darkstalker  said waving over a waiter.

The waiter took their orders and left swiftly. “Is that true?” Moon asked raising one eyebrow.

“Yes, he’s telling the truth,”  Clearsight  said.

“Are you getting married?”  Qibli  asked  Clearsight .

“What! No! At least I don’t think I want to be married to anyone yet. But I know I don’t want to be queen,”  Clearsight  said turning to look at  Darkstalker .

“I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to,”  Darkstalker  told  Clearsight , as the waiter came back with their meals.

“So, have you forgiven each other for everything?”  Qibli  asked.

“I’ve forgiven her for everything,”  Darkstalker  said as he twined his tail with  Clearsights , only to have  Clearsight  pull away.

“And you?” Moon asked  Clearsight .

Clearsight  remained quiet for a couple moments before finally speaking. “I don’t know if everything can be forgiven, what happened was terrible. But we might just have all the time in the world,”  Clearsight  trailed off.  _ Since  _ _ Darkstalker’s _ _  immortal it's only a matter of time before he makes me immortal too, _ Clearsight  thought.

The dragons ate their meals between the exchange of questions, mostly questions for  Clearsight . When the dragons were finished eating, they all said good byes and went their own ways.  Clearsight  was about to go to the library to see what’s still the same when  Darkstalker  stopped her. “ Clearsight , I need to ask you something,”  Darkstalker  said.

“Sure, what is it,”  Clearsight  said clearly tired of questions.

“Can we go to the throne room, it's something I don’t want to talk about in public,”  Darkstalker  said indicating all the dragons in the room.

“Sure, but can you make it quick? I want to see the night kingdom,”  Clearsight  said, as she followed  Darkstalker  up the staircase and into the throne room. “So, what is it you want to ask me?”  Clearsight  asked sitting down on the marble floor.

“You know how I brought you back, I want to bring back Fathom, and maybe Indigo,”  Darkstalker  said quietly.

“What! That can have bad consequences. What if their dragonets are important? How will that effect this current time?”  Clearsight  challenged standing up flaring her midnight black wings.

“Relax, if things go horribly I- we can fix it, I do have animus magic don’t forget,”  Darkstalker  said coolly.

“No! Besides after what you did to Indigo do you really think Fathom would want to see you?”  Clearsight  challenged standing up straighter looking  Darkstalker  in his dark eyes.

  “I think he would like to see us, we aren’t the same  Clearsight . I think Fathom would like us this way. Him AND Indigo can be happy here. They don’t have to worry about Fathoms oath to the queen about having dragonets. This could be like how it was supposed to be,”  Darkstalker  insisted spreading his talons.

“I think they were happy in their- or our time,”  Clearsight  said quietly looking down at her talons.

“This can be their happy future,”  Darkstalker  said again tilting  Clearsights  snout to face him. “We can all be happy. I promise you, if you let me try to convince them to come back, I won’t make them do anything they don’t want to do,”  Darkstalker  promised.

“No, I doubt they would trust you after what you did to Indigo, Fathom was devastated when he got news of Indigo leaving him,”  Clearsight  said, remembering how lonely Fathom was after Indigo left. She remembered finding him crying in his room when he was alone.

“I know,”  Darkstalker  said breaking  Clearsights  thoughts. “I enchanted a bell to ring when Fathom was lonely. It would ring all the time after I turned Indigo into the statue,”  Darkstalker  said remembering how in the middle of the night it would ring constantly waking  Darkstalker  up.

“If you really cared about him you would have never taken Indigo from Fathom,”  Clearsight  said sadly.

“ Clearsight , you wouldn’t have come with me if I you didn’t see me as a changed dragon. I promise you, if Fathom and Indigo don’t want to come, I will leave them,”  Darkstalker  said truthfully.

“Why did you take Indigo from Fathom, what did you have to gain?”  Clearsight  asked quietly, tipping her head up towards  Darkstalker .

“I-I wanted Fathom to use his magic, to forget his oath to Pearl. I wanted him to know the full wonder of being an animus. I knew as long as Indigo was around, he would always keep his oath to his sister,”  Darkstalker  said, recalling what he thought two thousand years ago.

“Or was it to keep her out of the way?”  Clearsight  asked. “You knew as long as she was around, she wouldn’t let Fathom take anything you gave him. You knew she was too smart to take something you enchanted!”  Clearsight  yelled.

“ Clearsight , please just give me a chance,”  Darkstalker  pleaded.

“Why? I thought you didn’t want Fathom back, I thought you would never trust him?”  Clearsight  asked curling her tail around her talons.

“Well, with you back I remember more of the great times we had, and all of them had Fathom,”  Darkstalker  said slowly and quietly.

“If you promise me that you’ll leave them if they don’t want to come?”  Clearsight  pressed. “Also, I have to be there to make sure you don’t take them unwillingly.”

“I promise, you’ll see, I really am a changed dragon.”


	5. chapter 4

“Fathom, I'm not the same dragon I was two thousand years ago. I've brought peace between the  Nightwings , but I'd like you and... Indigo to be with me. The time I come from is much better than this time. The dragons are living in my-  our ,”  _ Got to remember  _ _ Clearsight’s _ _  going to be here too _ . “Um, in  _ our _  time are at peace. We could also use your help to rebuild our tribe,”  _ and blah blah blah, I'll explain what happened to the  _ _ Nightwings _ _. _  “Please come with us, don’t forget this might be what was meant to be our perfect life,”  Darksalker  said, to no one in particular. _  Would that convince Fathom? I mean that was way too short. Mabey I should just do whatever comes to me, after all that is what I did with  _ _ Clearsight _ _. _

As if he summoned her with his thoughts, which he could if he wanted to,  Clearsight  came into the room.  Clearsight  wore a smile, one that  Darkstalker  hadn't seen since they were dragonets _. It's been so long I've missed that smile,  _ Darkstalker  thought smiling slightly, but really for him it was only about six months ago.

"You know, you don’t have to rehearse. I think Fathom doesn’t like it when dragons do something that takes up time for him. You should just do it from the heart,”  Clearsight  said as her smile turned to a fake one.  Darkstalker  heard a darker part of her mind's thoughts,  _ if you have one. _

"Well, you never know, Fathom might be too speechless to speak and if it's from the heart you might need them to ask a question, or something like that,”  Darkstalker  said with a flick of his tail.

"No, no, you're getting things mixed up, if anything it’s the other way around,”  Clearsight  said rolling her eyes in a playful way. “Besides I said we can try to convince Fathom tomorrow, we only had breakfast a couple hours ago.”

“By the way, I haven’t asked you yet, but what did you think of breakfast with Moon and  Qibli ?”  Darkstalker  asked curious to know  Clearsight’s  answer.

“Moon was nice, I really liked her.  Qibli  did ask a lot of questions, I think that was smart of him,”  Clearsight  said, while her mind whispered;  _ I think he asked too many _ .

“I knew you would like Moon-” But  Darkstalker  cut off in mid-sentence as the two dragons in the marble throne room heard the loud talons of a dragon running through the halls.  _ Why am I doing this? It should be a  _ _ Skywing _ _  not me I can't fly as fast as one,  _ the approaching dragon thought as they burst into the throne room, it was Sunny.

“Sunny?”  Darkstalker  said confused as Sunny stood in the door way of the vast throne room, panting clearly exhausted. __ _ Darkstalker _ _!  _ _ Icewings _ _  are coming here. When I left from jade mountain my friends were stalling them, but they can’t do it forever,  _ Sunny told  Darkstalker  with her mind.

_ Hmmm, clever, I should try to get some of my subjects communicate with me through their thoughts, _ Darkstalker  thought momentarily distracted. “How long ago did you leave?”  Darkstalker  asked trying to ignore the puzzled look from  Clearsight .  _ Has  _ _ Darkstalker _ _  enchanted her? _ Clearsight  wondered slightly sickened.

"Three hours ago,” Sunny panted drooping down onto the marbled floor.

"Wait what's going on?”  Clearsight  asked looking back and forth between  Darkstalker  and Sunny.

"The  Icewings  are coming, and this time they can get past the force field I set up,”  Darkstalker  said darkly.

"Why, did your magic fade over time, I thought Animus magic Doesn’t fade,”  Clearsight  said. _  If animus magic does fade, I'll need to take lots of notes. This might be the first time anyone's made this discovery. I can be known for a discovery no- _

“ Clearsight  did you hear what I just said?  Icewings  are coming, ICEWINGS remember  Icewings  don’t like  Nightwings . We don’t have time for studying”  Darkstalker  said flaring his wings.

"Why, what happened was two thousand years ago. Was there another war between our tribes?”  Clearsight  asked.

"The  Icewings  still hate us, they probably hate us more because of the plague I caused,”  Darkstalker  said slowly.

“I told you! You should never use your magic for bad things! But that still doesn’t answer my question, why can the  Nightwings  get past the barrier?”

"Well, it started with a couple students from jade mountain,”  Darkstalker  started. _  What? What did we have to do with the  _ _ Icewings _ _ - _ sunnys  thought cut off as a golden earring flashed in her  mind.  "Who enchanted a whole lot of earrings, earrings that make the dragon wearing them immune to my spells. That dragon made so many that all the  Icewings  have enchanted earrings. I told you about this on Agate mountain remember?”  Darkstalker  said as  Clearsight’s  mind started to buzz. 

_ How can we stop the  _ _ Icewings _ _  without violence? Since the  _ _ Icewings _ _  are immune to  _ _ Darkstalker's _ _  spell that takes magic out of the picture, unless we use another animus. But it's wrong to have an animus use their powers for someone else's mistake. Besides, where would we find another animus? So how can we do it without violence?  _ Clearsight  thought as she started to trace timelines.

“ Clearsight  there is no way to do this without violence, we have to fight,”  Darkstalker  said darkly.

"No! I can still see futures where we don’t fight,”  Clearsight  instead, even if she knew they were hard to do and extremely unlikely.

“ Clearsight  you know those futures aren’t going to happen. Their so unlikely, even you wouldn’t be willing to do what it takes to follow some of those peaceful paths,”  Darkstalker  said softly.

"There has to be another way,”  Clearsight  insisted stubbornly, lashing her tail.

"No there isn't. For the sake of our tribe we can't try to evacuate, you can see this battle is close, within the next few hours,”  Darkstalker  said knowing  Clearsight  knew he was telling the truth.

"They're other ways, you could enchant something to stop them! Please don’t walk down the same path you walk in our time,”  Clearsight  said taking a step closer to  Darkstalker . _  You said you’ve changed, this is your chance to prove it to me.  _

"You do know how to get me to do things,”  Darkstalker  said in a defeated sigh. “How about this, I won’t attack the  Icewings  until they reach the night kingdom border. But once they pass the border the  Nightwings  will attack.”

"We can evacuate the  Nightwing , that way no one will die,”  Clearsight  persisted.

"We could, but how long are you willing to run? Some are willing to run for their whole life, others will only run for a time. The  Nightwings  don’t want to run, they've been hiding for thousands of years. The  Nightwings  won’t run, they want to keep what they have,”  Darkstalker  said as he twined his tail with  Clearsight , this time she didn’t pull away. 

“Fine, but please don’t kill any  Icewings ,”  Clearsight  said softly.

“ Clearsight  this is war, its kill or be killed. My mother would fight in many battles on the front lines. She said that she had to kill or else her comrades would die,”  Darkstalker  said, as a pain of longing in his chest appeared.  _ Oh mother, we can finally be together again. But this time without father to ruin things for us. _

“Could we at least try to convince the Nightwings?” Clearsight asked.

"No, it would take too much time. The Icewings will be here in a couple of hours,” Darkstalker paused checking the future. "Two hours in fact.”

Darkstalker turned to the doorway as Sunny scrambled out of his way as he quickly made his way down to where he knew Fierceteeth would be. Darkstalker made his way down to the council room were Fierceteeth was murmuring something angrily to herself. 

_ When can I do something that will make the Nightwings look up to me? I can’t beat Darkstalker's magic, but I might be able to get the Nightwings who want a queen. I could try to go to the rainforest and get the Nightwings there... but then I'd have to face Glory, and if I kill her my brother would be devastated _ , the young Nightwing thought.

“I hope I'm not interrupting anything,” Darkstalker said with the satisfactory of seeing the young Nightwing scold herself.

"N-No sir. What do you need of me?” Fierceteeth asked. _  This might be my chance to bring the Nightwings to m- I mean what do you want me to do? _

“I need you to prepare our army,” Darkstalker said as he loomed over Fierceteeth _. Don't try to steel the Nightwings from me, this is just a warning _ , Darkstalker thought knowing Fierceteeth couldn’t hear him.

"Why? What’s coming?” Fierceteeth asked curiously. _  Finally, a battle. I can’t wait to fight! _  Fierceteeth thought as memories from the old Nightwing volcano came flooding in. Fierceteeth remembered fighting dragons, a required curriculum for Nightwings.

“An army of our enemies,  Icewings ,”  Darkstalker  growled striking fear into  Fierceteeth .  _ This time the  _ _ Icewings _ _  can't win, they’ll be  _ wiped _  out by the  _ _ Nightwings _ _  this time. _

"Where are we heading?” Fierceteeth asked as her tail flicked in excitement.  _ The Icewings will pay for what they did to our queen. _

"Nowhere, we’ll wait for them to come to us,” Darkstalker said as he started to walk away.

"Wait, what? Were just going to sit around and wait to be attacked? We're Nightwings we should attack them before they can even strike!” Fierceteeth argued appearing in Darkstalker's path.

“I agree with you, but I made someone a promise. But we’ll be prepared to wipe out the Icewings when they come.”

“But you’re the king, you can do what you want. Wait, can't you enchant them to all die?” Fierceteeth asked a glint of triumph in her green eyes.

"You didn’t think I would have thought of that? My magic won’t work that way,” Darkstalker said. _  It's more like my magic can’t work on them, _  Darkstalker thought sourly. "What are you standing there for? We only have about an hour before the Icewings arrive!” Darkstalker barked as he watched Fierceteeth scramble away and run down the hallways.

Darkstalker took off to the  court yard  where Fierceteeth would gather his army. When Darkstalker reached the  court yard , he noticed a couple dragons were sitting on the smooth marble floor. _  Good, my dragons will be ready. _

“King Darkstalker, is it true the Icewings are coming here to fight?” A black and deep blue colored female dragon asked.

"Yes, they're coming, probably to try to wipe us out. But as you know Nightwings will not be destroyed without a fight,” Darkstalker said.

“Um, your majesty I know this might not be the right time, but you haven't given me a power yet,” The Nightwing said hesitantly. _  Should I not have asked. but we are going to battle it would be better to have a power than not to.  _

"You don’t? Well in that case what power do you want?” Darkstalker said looking for something the dragon had he could enchant.

“Can I have the power to move twice as fast as a normal dragon?” the dragon asked as she removed a ruby bracelet and held it up to Darkstalker hopefully _. I hope this works, if not I don’t know who will take care of my dragonet, _  the dragon thought.

Darkstalker felt pity for the dragon.  _ I’ll make sure to keep her safe, _  Darkstalker promised himself. “Of course,” Darkstalker said gently taking the dragons bracelet. Cupping his talons around the bracelet he enchanted it. "Enchant this bracelet to make the wearer twice as fast as a normal dragon,” Darkstalker murmured. Darkstalker hesitated for a second then thought;  _ enchant this bracelet to protect this dragon from all pure blood Icewings. _  Then Darkstalker handed the bracelet back to the dragon. "Try it,” Darkstalker encouraged.

The Nightwing's eyes winded as she took to the sky and zipped around the sky like a humming bird _. This is awesome! I hope this will keep me safe until I can see my dragonet again, _  the dragon thought. The dragon landed near Darkstalker swiftly. "Thank you! Thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me,” The dragon said happily.

“Glad to help,” Darkstalker said charmingly.

As minuets passed more and more dragons trickled into the  court yard . After about forty minutes the  court yard  was filled with black dragons itching for a fight. As Darkstalker sat at the head of the crowd he heard Clearsight land besides him.

"You’re really doing this?” Clearsight stated more than she asked. 

“It’s what we must do,” Darkstalker said grimly. Darkstalker looked into the future, _  fifteen more minutes _ . “Clearsight you know the Icewings are just going to keep trying to hunt us down. This will stop them,” Darkstalker said confidently.

_ ~~~~~~~~~~ _

_ There're here. _

"Nightwings!” Darkstalker roared shaking the ground and silencing all the quiet murmuring from his subjects. "The Icewings are crossing the border, they are coming to destroy us... but we won’t let them! We are better than the Icewings, we won’t fall to a lower tribe. For those of you who have powers use them to keep you and your tribemates safe,” Darkstalker said pacing across the head of the crowd. “I hope none of this happens but if you do go down take down an Icewing down with you! For every one of us who falls one hundred Icewing will fall!” Darkstalker shouted.

“All hail king Darkstalker! All hail king Darkstalker!” the Nightwings cried beating their wings and stomping their talons. 

"Now let’s go kill some Icewings,” Darkstalker said quietly to himself. “FOR THE NIGHTWINGS!” Darkstalker roared and took to the sky as his subjects followed him turning into a sea of black and silver.

The Nightwings covered ground as fast as Skywings, filled with adrenalin. As the Nightwings headed north they saw the glint of white scales from the Icewing enemies. Once the armies were within range of each other they stopped and glowered hatefully at each other.

An Icewing flew to the center of the Icewing army. The Icewing was pure white with a long narrow snout. "The Icewings will end you. Surrender and spare blood,” the Icewing shouted from across the soon to be war ground.

“Mabey you should be the ones to leave, you can’t win,” Darkstalker shouted back speaking the truth.

"The Icewings are here to end the Nightwings. The Nightwings are a curse to Pyrrhia!” The Icewing shouted back.

"You can try to fight us, but it will only end in extinction for you,” Darkstalker said calmly. Darkstalker noticed how some of the Icewings in the sea of white shifted comfortably.

"We will fight to the end and die in honor,” The Icewing growled. “Icewings attack!”

Darkstalker gave a bone chilling roar stopping the Icewings in mid wing beat. The Nightwings took this as their signal to attack. The Nightwings charged at the stunned Icewings unleashing their powers shocking the Icewings. The Nightwings killed many within the first minute or so in the battle, but Darkstalker killed tens or hundreds.

Darkstalker could grab the Icewings from the sky and constrict them until they burst. The blue blood would drip down Darkstalker's midnight black scales as he would toss the corpse aside. Tens of Icewings would attack Darkstalker at the same time, and none would live to see another moment. When Darkstalker made a warning hiss the Nightwings would gather behind him as Darkstalker unleashed a red and orange tornado of fire from his mouth. The tornado would swallow up the lives of tens of unfortunate Icewings. Darkstalker looked at the blood and corpses on the ground; mostly white bodies and blue blood that turned into a river.

More and more Icewings would charge at Darkstalker, this time going for his eyes. One lucky or extremely unfortunate Icewing got Darkstalker in the eye with a spear. Darkstalker roared in agony that he hadn’t felt in thousands of years. “Heal!” Darkstalker shouted at his eye after he pulled the spear out and he started to blink away tears stained red with blood. When Darkstalker's eye was healed he grabbed a rock from the ground. "Enchant this rock to allow me to know who threw that spear in my eye,” Darkstalker growled. Suddenly all the dragons around him turned grey except one who glowed a bright blue color. _  You will pay for that! _  Darkstalker rushed at that dragon who tried to duck to the side, but unsuccessfully. Darkstalker grabbed the Icewing by the neck holding him firmly as the Icewing tried to escape. Darkstalker spotted the amber tear drop on the dragon’s ear, and Darkstalker grabbed a hold of the earring and ripped it off the Icewings ear. The Icewing winced with pain but continued to glare at Darkstalker. “Do you know what happened to your prince, Arctic?” Darkstalker growled menacingly.

"You murdered him, you coward!” the Icewing spat at him.  _ All the Nightwings are cowards! _

“I guess you’ll be the first Icewing to know what happened to him,” Darkstarker said sounding slightly insane. "Enchant this dragon to obey my every command,” Darkstalker said with a smug smile as the Icewing's face became one of hate to one of pure terror. "Now, fly up and get the attention of all the Icewings,” Darkstalker said smirking. _  I'm glad Moon and Clearsight aren’t here, _  Darkstalker thought slightly guilty.

The Icewing flew to the top of the battle field and shouted, “All hail king Darkstalker!” the Icewing shouted. All the Icewings fighting stopped and stared with surprise at their comrade. 

Darkstalker saw the Nightwings advance forward, Darkstalker held you a talon to stop them. "Now tell them this is what really happened to Arctic. Then cut out your tongue,” Darkstalker said as he sensed a huge spike of fear from the Icewing.

"This is what truly happened to Arctic,” the Icewing said as other Icewings looked at one another. The Icewing slowly reached up to grab his deep blue tongue and slowly sliced a razor-sharp talon across it. The Icewings looked at one another with pure fear in their eyes. The Icewing let out a scream of pain and hissed at the pain. The Icewing's mouth started to well up with his blood that would drip down from his jaw, contributing to the blue river of blood below.

"Now pledge yourself loyal to me.”

“I am loyal to king Darkstalker, the true ruler of Pyrrhia.” Icewings hissed at the dragon in the air above them. 

_ No! I don’t mean that!  _ The enchanted Icewing thought desperately.

"Now, tear yourself open and say this is how Arctic died!” Darkstalker shouted to make the Icewings knew he was behind this.

"This is how Arctic died,” the Icewing said in a shaky voice.  _ I'm going to die! I'm going to die! _  the Icewing thought as tears mixed with the blood dripping down his ice blue jaw. The dragon's shaky talons slowly moved to his exposed under belly and he paused for a moment. Then slowly he sunk his claws into his snow-white stomach. The murmuring of curiosity from the Icewings became one of fear.

“AHH!” the Icewing shouted and started to scream as he shredded himself and blood spilled from him.

_ What's that monster done?  _ An Icewing thought. _  I knew they were all monsters,  _ another thought.  _ He can do that to any of us, _  a  _ Nightwing  _ thought fear striking every bone in the dragon’s body.

_ That, and so much more,  _ Darkstalker thought darkly. The Icewing's shaky talons pulled his insides apart as the Icewing howled in pain. “Silence!” Darkstalker shouted as the Icewings tuned to look at him. The Icewing's screams cut off abruptly, as all the Icewings turned their attention to the Icewing who was howling in silence. “Seconds before you die, tell the Icewings this will happen to all of them, or they leave and maybe live to see another day.”

The Icewing tore at himself as he thrashed in agony, silent as a mouse. The blood dripped down the dragons shredded torso and stomach. His blood sprayed left and right due to the Icewing's thrashing as his blue blood sprayed down on the Icewings who were below who moved with disgusted. The Icewing continued to rip at himself as he silently panted, and his wing beats slowed as he dropped lower and lower with exhaustion. Finally, the dragon took one last shuddering breath and said his last order just loud enough for the Icewing to hear. "This will happen to all of you unless you leave and maybe live to see another day,” the Icewing said. _  I'm so sorry, _  his mind said as he fell into eternal sleep. His wings flopped to his side as he convulsed once spewing blue blood all over himself, contributing to the blue river he had fallen into.

_ Enchant all the Nightwings around me to get this message: attack, but you don’t have to kill the Icewings, just rip the earrings off their ear.  _ Darkstalker saw the Nightwings glance at him, he gave the slightest nod as the Nightwings charged at the stunned Icewings.

This time the Icewings went on offence, gathering around a crystal white dragon who looked to be the age of seven, barely an adult. _  Protect the queen! Protect the queen! _  Darkstalker heard the Icewings repeat in their minds.

_ Hmmm... a young queen. She might be the key to ending this fight _ , Darkstalker thought thinking of a plan while he absents mindedly dispatched all the Icewings coming at him. "Enchant all Icewings on this battle field to obey my every command,” Darkstalker said as he took down two foolish Icewings with a sweep of his tail. “Fly above the battle feild and do nothing but hover above the battle field,” Darkstalker said as he felt spikes of fear from Icewings as they flew higher despite their comrade's confusion. Darkstalker surveyed the dragons above, taking note of how many Icewings hung in the sky above and how many were injured.  _ Good, my dragons have done their part _ . Darkstalker found a solid stone and enchanted it.  _ Enchant this stone to allow me to telepathically give orders to all the Nightwings on this battle field. _  Darkstalker paused a moment,  _ Nightwings, don’t attack the Icewings in the air above us, only attack the ones who attack you. Try to take all the earrings off the Icewings and only kill them if you can’t hold them off. _

"Enchant every Icewing on this battle field to obey my every command. Fly above the battle field and do nothing but hover above the battle feild.” Darkstalker said again with satisfactory as a good numbered of Icewings disengaged from the Nightwings and flew up to the sky. They helplessly watched as their tribe mates were slaughtered beneath them. The Nightwings started to turn the tables drastically. They were able to remove so many earrings you could see the amber glimmer on the blue river that flowed from beneath them. "Enchant every Icewing on this battle field to obey my every command. Fly above the battle field and do nothing but hover above the battle field,” Darkstalker said as many more Icewings joined the others in the sky above helplessly watching their tribe mates lose and died at the claws of their enemies. “Stop!” Darkstalker roared stopping both ice and night, white and black. "This is your one warning, leave and never return and we’ll spare you,”  _ for now _ . “Or continue to fight and the same thing that happened to your friend will happen to all of you.”

"The Icewing who appeared to be queen spoke up. “Release my subjects and we’ll leave,” the Icewing said clearly weary of Darkstalker's spell on her subjects.  _ Live to fight another day _ , the Icewing thought, foolishly.

"Well I'm sorry, but we can’t have another battle. It won’t cost us anything next time, but it will cost you  _ everything _ ,” Darkstalker said growling on everything for good measure.

"No- how do you k- I never said anything!” the Icewing queen said clearly trying to hide her thoughts.

_ Hah! such a bad liar, _  Darkstalker thought amused. "You may not have said a word, but don’t forget I'm a Nightwing, I can read minds.”

_ The dragonets lied! They told us Nightwings can’t read minds. Are the dragonets siding with these monsters? _  The queen thought.

_ I might thank the dragonets for that, _  Darkstalker thought. “Because of what you plan to do I can’t give you back your subjects. Take the ones you have, or you and all your subjects will end up like them,” Darkstalker said indicating to the Icewings frozen in flight.

"Your majesty, we should take who we have. If we fight there will be no more Icewings,” A dragon close to the queen said quietly, but Darkstalker's sharp ears caught every word of what he said.

“Have you made your decision?” Darkstalker said mockingly.

The queen growled and debated the odds and cast a look up to the Icewings who were clearly pleading her to try to rescue them.

_ Help us! _  an Icewing thought. _  Don't leave us! _  another thought. 

Taking a slow breath, the queen answered. “I will take the remainder of my tribe. But under one condition.”

"What is it.”

"You will leave the Icewings we leave with you alone and don’t harm them,” the queen said completely sure Darkstalker was going to object.

"Yes, your majesty,” Darkstalker said with a smirk that left the Icewing queen troubled.

The queen took one look at the Icewing in the air above and turned around and started to head north. Her tribe followed her, but only about a third of what she brought. She and her forces disapeared from Darkstalkers sight before he made another move. Most of the lost Icewings were on the ground, long gone. The rest were watching the Icewing leave all hope dripping away.

Satisfied he turned around and started to wing his way back home when a familiar voice stopped him. 

“Darkstalker, son?” a horrified voice said. “Is this what you’ve become? I thought you’d be better than this,” the voice continued. 

Darkstalker whipped around at the all too familiar sounding voice. And there before him was a black and deep green dragon standing on the mountain that overlooked the battle field. Her gaze fixed on his. she looked down at the Icewing who had shredded himself.  _ That’s what happened to him _ , she thought with a pang of sorrow. 

Darkstalker couldn’t believe his eyes. “Mother?” 


	6. chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been gone for so long. I had to help my friend set up an Archive account and help her with her first work, tags, adding chapters, etc.

"How are you here?” Darkstalker shouted. "How are you alive? Where have you been? You haven’t aged!” then he added slowly and hopefully. “Are- are you real?” _H_ _ow in the world is she here? She can't be here. Even if Arctic enchanted her to be immortal, she would be much larger than the last time I saw her, like I am,_ Darkstalker thought. 

"What have you done! I didn’t raise you this way!” Foeslayer shouted ignoring Darkstalker's questions. "What would Whiteout think? What would Clearsight think!” Foeslayer shouted flaring her black wings. 

"You could always ask her,” Darkstalker said flatly. _All these years, I've loved you and this is how you treat me when we meet again!_   Darkstalker  thought with rage  _I thought if we ever me_ _e_ _t again_ _,_ _we would be so happy to see each other_. 

 _Ask her? Ask_ _Clearsight_ _? How has she survived? Did my son enchant her to be immortal too?_ Foeslayer  thought.  _How many others from our time are_ _here_ _? What has my son done?_ Foeslayer thought as her gaze drifted over to the river of blue blood running through the valley below. "What do you mean by I can ask her, what did you do?” Foeslayer asked, her face a mask of horror. 

“Before I tell you how she’s alive tell me this, how are  _you_  alive?”  Darkstalker  said suspiciously .  _An animus created her, she’s not real,_ Darkstalker  tried convincing himself.  _Anemone created her to get you back because of what happened,_ Darkstalker thought remembering the fight she had with Moon. 

 _The_ _I_ _cewing_ _s_ _..._ Foeslayer  thought hesitantly.  _They put an enchantment on me to allow me to be frozen in time,_  Forslayer thought as a memory of searing pain in her chest flashed into her mind. 

"What did they do to you?” Darkstalker growled.  _Whatever they did to her, they will pay,_  Darkstalker thought casting a sideways glance at the Icewings hovering in the air. 

"The Icewings in this time did nothing to me,” Foeslayer said quickly seeing his gaze on the Icewings. “Except the one who set me free,” Foeslayer finished. _Son don’t be this way. Revenge will only lead to a never-ending cycle of revenge_ , Foeslayer thought. 

“Clearsight told me that two thousand years ago,” Darkstalker said with a sour laugh. "What did they do to you?” Darkstalker asked again. 

"That's not important. What is important is the fact that you enchanted around half of an army of Icewings like objects. Not to mention the plague you sent to wipe out most the Icewings. Tell me why you would do this son,” Foeslayer growled. 

"The Icewings were going to kill us Nightwings if I didn’t do something, they would have killed many more Nightwings. I had to create the page to keep the Icewings away from the Nightwings, and by the way I ended the plague. I had to do this to save the Nightwings. Once we were the greatest tribe to ever walk on this continent. I'm just trying to keep the Nightwings safe and make us great once more,” Darkstalker insisted. "I did everything for a reason, nothing I did was for revenge or for my own personal gain,” Darkstalker insisted trying to convince himself too. 

"I know you. You were after revenge. Some things you did might have been for the tribe and some you did for your own personal gain,” She shouted sternly. "I know what you did to your father,” she said as she choked on a sob.  

“Father was going to betray the tribe. He was a traitor,” Darkstalker said aware of the confused thought from the Nightwings and the angry thoughts of the Icewings. 

"Well you didn’t have to make him kill himself!” Foeslayer burst out flaring her wings. “Arctic was a good dragon. He wouldn’t betray the Nightwings without a good reason.” 

"His reason was to go home,” Darkstalker said hatefully. "He kidnaped Whiteout and used his magic to manipulate her feelings. He was going to marry her off to an Icewing. He was going to betray the Nightwings by telling the Icewings how to get past the barrier I set up. He deserved to die,” Darkstalker argued back. _Why can’t you see,_ _Arct_ _ic never deserved you_ , Darkstalker thought. 

"What barrier?” Foeslyer asked. 

"That doesn’t matter. The point is Arctic deserved to be killed. Don't try to change the topic,” Darkstalker growled.  

Foeslayer was silent for a moment as she looked down at her talons. "Why would he not kill you then? If he was truly evil, he would have killed you. I know how much he hated you. Tell me why he didn’t kill you?” Foeslayer challenged. 

"He was afraid. One night someone tried to assassinate me,” Darkstalker said as a sharp feeling of protectiveness emanated from Foeslayer. "The assassin failed and that’s when Arctic learned that he can’t kill me,” Darkstalker finished. 

"What did you do? What spell did you use?” Foeslayer asked.  _Since he’s immortal does that make himself invulnerable to any attack?_ Foeslayer wondered. 

 _If I gave_ _M_ _other that answer would she use it against me?_  Darkstalker thought as he tried to find the answer in her mind. Darkstalker couldn’t see any thoughts on taking him down. “Mother, if you come with me to the Night kingdom, I can tell you. I can show you what I've been doing as king. My subjects are content, I'm a great ruler,” Darkstalker said with murmurs of agreement from the dragons behind him. “Come with us, we have to head back to treat wounds,” Darkstalker said turning in the air. 

"I’ll come with you. But you must tell me the truth. All of it,” She said knowingly. 

"I would never lie to you,” he said. 

 _You did in our time..._  Foeslayer thought sadly. 

"If you don’t trust me you can always ask Clearsight,” Darkstalker said casually. 

"You keep saying that Clearsight’s alive. How?” Foeslayer asked. “Did you enchant her to be immortal too? I didn’t know her for long, but I know she would disapprove,” Foeslayer said in her you’re-in-trouble voice. 

“No, she’s not immortal,” Darkstalker said.  _Although I wish she agreed to be immortal. Then we could be together for eternity. Imagine what wonders we could bring to  P_ _yrrhia_ _,_  Darkstalker thought longingly.  “She’s not much older than when you saw her last,” Darkstalker said cryptically. 

"I know you’re a Nightwing like I am, but can you not speak as cryptically as if you’re reciting a prophecy. Clearsight was never a fan of cryptic details,” Foeslayer added flying over to Darkstalker's side. 

“Follow me and don’t try anything. Don't attack any other Nightwings, don’t do anything except follow me while flying until I say otherwise,” Darkstalker shouted at the Icewings causing Foeslayer’s stomach to sink. "I know, she was my soulmate after all. Now that I've told you a bit about Clearsight, tell me about how you’re alive. I know you’re not immoral or else you’d be much larger than last time I saw you,” Darkstalker said flying to the Night kingdom with the Nightwing behind him.  

"Why did you have to do that to the Icewings? Why would you want revenge on them? They aren’t the same Icewings who lived during our time,” Foeslayer said. 

 _She's right,_  Darkstalker thought before shaking the thought off. "They attacked us. I promised Clearsight not to attack them if they didn’t cross the border. They crossed it so us Nightwings had to fight to keep our home and our lives,” Darkstalker said as the swarm of dragons flew until they came near the barrier. 

Growling Darkstalker turned around to face the Icewings. “Enchant all Icewings who obey my every command to be able to pass through the barrier I set up inside of the Night kingdom,” Darkstalker said. 

"Why can’t they pass? What does this barrier do?” Foeslayer asked blocking Darkstalker’s path as he turned around to pass through the barrier.  

“Do you really need to know. It doesn’t matter anymore. Besides you can always look down,” Darkstalker sighed. 

Foeslayer looked down as she gasped and missed a wing beat.  

The ground was littered with white bones surrounding an invisible dome. Though they were all bones any dragon could tell that they were the bones of Icewings.  

"What did you DO? This is your magic isn’t it! Arctic told me that you would do dangerous things with your powers. Why would you do this?” Foeslayer asked as her eyes narrowed in rage as she continued to block his path. 

"You might not believe me when I say this, but the Vigilance came up with it. Just be glad I didn’t do some of the other things I came up with,” Darkstalker said as he flew over Foeslayer. 

"What other things did you come up with. You know the Icewings are as much your tribe as the Nightwings are,” Foeslayer said pointedly. 

"It doesn’t matter. I never created them... And don’t call me an Icewing,” Darkstalker finished with a deep growl bubbling up in his throat. 

"They might have never happened, but I want to know what you would have done. When did you come up with this idea anyway?” Foeslayer asked while flying next to Darkstalker. 

"I wanted to create something that would kill all the Icewings... a stick,” Darkstalker said. 

 _A stick. Who knew a stick could be the thing to wipe out a whole dragon tribe,_   Foeslayer  thought with a hint of  amusement. _Though it might seem funny it’s_ _absolutely terrifying_ _when you have animus magic,_  Foeslayer reminded herself. 

"I will warn you the Night kingdom is old, and some buildings are collapsing,” Darkstalker informed his mother as the Night kingdom palace came into view. 

"I know, I came back here as soon as I was free from the Icewings,” Foeslayer said. 

"Wait what?” Darkstalker said stopping in midair. "How long have you been in the Night kingdom? Why didn’t you come and see me?” Darkstalker shouted.  _Why wouldn’t she want to see me? It would be a miracle to know that her son’s alive after two thousand years._  

"I know what you did to Arctic. Everything,” She said, her gaze drilling into Darkstalker’s head. "I love you, I really do. But after what you did to Arctic... I really did love your father no matter how many fights we had. When I heard you had him disembowel himself, I thought you lost your mind. Seeing what you did to the Icewings made me more afraid. I then thought that I might be the only one who could keep you from going completely insane. But I guess you have Clearsight, she would do a good job at keeping you on the ground,” Foeslayer said. 

"I’m sorry. I was blinded by anger and I wanted to scare the Icewings into giving you back,” Darkstalker admitted. “After a while I thought you were dead, and then I was after revenge.” 

"What would you gain by getting revenge? If I was killed... permanently, how would killing Icewings that never did anything to me, make things better?” Foeslayer asked while brushing Darkstalker’s large black wings. 

"It would teach them not to ever harm anyone I care for,” Darkstalker said the tips of his wings running the length of Foeslayer’s wings. "I also wasn’t only going for revenge, I wanted the Nightwings to be safe.” 

"I understand wanting your tribe to be safe, but who else would they harm? I know that you sent the plague before I arrived, and I assume before Clearsight arrived. But if you never sent that plague the Icewings wouldn’t have known you returned. And if they never were infected by the plague, they wouldn’t have needed earrings. If they never got the earrings they couldn’t get past the barrier,” Foeslayer said while waving a talon at the barrier behind them. 

“Someone would've given them earrings,” Darkstalker argued. 

“Mabey not. Not all the tribes have earrings. I don’t think any tribe besides the Icewings have earrings for every member,” Foeslayer pointed out. 

"The Sandwings do. The Sandwing who keeps messing with my plans gave them the earrings,” Darkstalker said. 

 _The_ _Sandwing_ _?_  Foeslayer thought as image of a Sandwing with freckles and a scar appeared in her mind. "What Sandwing?” she asked. 

"Wait, you know Qibli? when did you see him?” Darekstalker asked frantically as he stopped in the air. _When did she meet_ _Qi_ _bli_ _? Have they been meeting and conspiring against me?_  

"In the library yesterday. I can’t hide anything from you, can I?” Foeslayer said with a defeated sigh. "I asked him what he knew about you,” Foeslayer added uncertainty. 

"Well? What did he tell you?” Darkstalker asked as he resumed flying. 

“Nothing,” Foeslayer said while avoiding Darkstalker's gaze. “Nothing you need to know. I'm pretty sure all your subjects have the same opinion,” Foeslayer said but Darkstalker could detect a slight lie. Darkstalker looked through her memories to find what Qibli said about him, but Darkstalker couldn’t find those memories. 

"Well I’m sure if he told you some concerning things, I can prove to you that you don’t have to worry about them,” Darkstalker said. "I’m going to land in the courtyard and organize my army and prisoners. There's someone I'd like you to meet who will probably be in the courtyard.” 

“Okay,” Foeslayer said reluctantly. "Who is it?” Foeslayer asked. _It must be_ _C_ _learsight_ _._ _Darkstalker_ _did say she’s still alive, but how?_  

"You’ll see, and if I told you then it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Darkstalker said while giving her a charming wink. Foeslayer stayed silent as they landed in the courtyard. 

“Darkstalker!” an outrage voice shouted as Darkstalker landed in the courtyard. "What have you done?” shouted a beautiful black dragon. 

“Don’t worry. I got everything under control. The Icewings won’t attack any Nightwings,” Darkstalker said as Foeslayer gasped. 

“Cl- Clearsight?” Foeslayer said as she stepped out from behind Darkstalker. 

“Foeslayer! I knew you would come! Soon after Darkstalker left to fight the Icewings, I started having faint visions of you. Me and Darkstalker really thought you were dead,” Clearsight said with an echo of grief in her voice. "I guess that means you did a lot of unnecessary things,” Clearsight added with a stern glare at Darkstalker. 

"What? I did all types of spells that should’ve brought Mother back. How was I supposed to know that she wasn’t dead,” Darkstalker protested.  

"Well you shouldn’t have done what you did. I'm sure your mother would agree with me,” Clearsight said and Foeslayer nodded in agreement. 

"Why am I always the bad guy? I'm just trying to do-” 

“Oh, and let's not forget, you have an army of Icewings just sitting patiently behind you,” Clearsight said pointedly. "Why are they sitting there?... you did...?” Clearsight started while her mind finished the rest;  _you didn’t enchant them to obey your every command didn't you_  

"I...” Darkstalker started but looked away instead.  _Please tell me you didn’t,_ Clearsight thought as she took an unsteady step back. “Clearsight, there was no other way.” 

“Of course there was! While you were gone, I had visions of you coming back without the Icewings. There were so many other ways!” Clearsight shouted. 

“Clearsight, you weren't fighting the Icewings. If you saw the battle you would have seen that there was no other way. Well unless we killed all of them, and I don’t think you would want me to massacre that many Icewings,” Darkstalker pointed out. 

"If you could enchant them like this,” she pointed at the Icewings. "You could've enchanted them to go back to the Ice kingdom without a fight. Why do you have to use your gift this way?” Clearsight said almost silently. 

“Clearsight, many of them had one of those earrings that made them immune to my magic. I didn’t get all of the Icewings. About a third of the Icewings who came to the battle retreated with their queen,” Darkstalker said. 

"Then what happened to the other two thirds? How many of the Icewings did you enchant?” Clearsight asked. 

“Darkstalker, be honest with her. She's your soulmate after all,” Foeslayer added in. “She looks like she hadn’t aged, and you have. You must have frozen her in time of brought her back from the dead didn’t you,” Foeslayer said while putting a warm talon on his arm. "You loved he so much. Be honest with her.” 

"We... we killed one third of the Icewings who came to fight us,” Darkstalker started slowly with a glance at his mother who gave and encouraging nod. "The other third as you can see were enchanted by me to...” H _ow am I going to tell her? If I tell her the truth, then she’ll see me as a monster. But I can’t lie because_ _M_ _other saw what happened_. "I enchanted them the same way as I enchanted Father. I enchanted them to obey my every command.” 

"I think I already knew,” Clearsight said sadly. “Darkstalker, you have to give up on revenge and violence. There are other ways to almost everything, and I can see them all. Let me help you make the right choices. Please,”  Clearsight said as she gave a small sad sigh. 

“Clearsight. I would love for you to rule by my side,” Darkstalker said. 

"I don’t mean just give you small pointers. I mean that if I do rule by your side you will take my advice like you’d take your own. If we do rule together then we have to have an equal share of power,” Clearsight said firmly. 

“Clearsight, I'd give all of Phyrria to you but sometimes I have to make choices that you don’t approve of. And when I make those choices it may seem like I'm doing it for revenge, but when you lead a tribe you have to make difficult choices,” Darkstalker said as he leaned down to meet Clearsight’s gaze. 

"I know. I can see some paths that could lead to an all-out battle without a choice. But many bad paths have a peaceful way out. I know you can see them too. Please, for me can you take a peaceful path. Right now, there are many peaceful paths pick one for us to follow,” Clearsight said wisely. 

“Okay,” Darkstalker said as he started to trace paths  _follow a peaceful path. Trace the threads_  Clearsight’s voice echoed in Darksatalker’s mind. "Wait a minute!” Darkstalker said sitting upright suddenly. "Where’s Sunny?” 

"What do you mean? How does this have to do with anything that’s happening?” Clearsight asked as she put a talon on her head. “Oh,” she said looking at a conversation in the near future. 

"Yes,” Darkstalker said as she caught on. “Now where’s Sunny” 

“She’s down in the library with Moon and Qibli,” Clearsight answered. 

"Wait, what’s going on? Who's Sunny and Moon,” Foeslayer asked. 

"You’ll find out soon enough,” Darkstalker replied. 

 _Son, who are they? Why are they so important,_ Foeslayer said to Darkstalker with her mind. 

“Fine. Moon is my best friend and she’s one of the only Nightwings who hatched under the moons. And Moon goes to a school for all dragon tribes and Sunny is he teacher at that school,” Darkstalker said as he turned to his subjects. “All Nightwings can go back to their homes. And all the Icewings in this courtyard sit still and don’t try to escape or harm any Nightwings,” Darkstalker ordered as he spread his wings and took to the sky. 

“But what does this have to do with why you need to see them desperately,” Foeslayer pointed out. “Or are you after Qibli?” 

"I'm not after any of them. I just need to know something,” Darkstalker said to his mother. 

"What is it?” Foeslayer asked. "If you tell me I can help you figure out what you need to know,” Foeslayer offered. 

"You’ll find out soon enough,” Darkstalker said as he passed Clearsight and nodded at the library. 

Darkstalker waited for Clearsight and his mother to land before he walked through the large arch of the library. 

"I saw Icewings and Nightwings flying past,” Moon said as her voice cast echoes around the large building. 

 _That's strange,_   D arkstalker  mused.  _I can’t here_ _M_ _oon_ _’s thoughts._  

"What do you think he did to them. I know my tribe would never side with a monster like him,” a gruff unmistakable Icewing voice said. 

"I don’t know what he did. But I know those Icewings must be in trouble. Who knows what Darkstalker would do to them,” Sunny said. 

"He must've enchanted them to obey his every command,” Qibli said. 

"I don’t know what he’s going to do to them. But I think he’s not going to massacre them,” Moon said. "He thinks he's doing what's best for the Nightwings. 

"How can you see so much good in him?” the Icewing asked. 

"We should get going. Turtle, kinkajou and … are probably waiting for us,” Qibli said. "Well take the back entrance so no one will see Winter.” 

 _Who's the other dragon?_ Darkstalker wondered. 

“Bye, I'll probably go back to Jade mountain tomorrow” Sunny said as Darkstalker heard the sound of wings flapping. 

Darkstalker waited a moment for the sound of the wing beats to fade before he walked into the library. “Sunny,” Darkstalker said as Sunny turned around and jumped clearly startled at Darkstalker’s arrival. 

"Y-Yes,” she said.  _How much did h-_  Sunny thought but squished her thoughts down. 

"How did you know where the Night kingdom was?” 


	7. Chapter 6

" Wh \- what do you mean?” Sunny asked taking a fearful step back moving out of  Darkstalker’s  looming shadow.

“ D on’t try to hide it, I never told you or your friends where the  N ight kingdom  was,”  Darkstalker  growled taking a step closer to Sunny.

_ I can’t, I can’t  _ Sunny  thought closing her eyes and shaking her head lightly.

“I can read your mind,”  Darkstalker  growled pushing into her mind.  "Y ou can't hide the truth from me.”

“ _ Darkstalker _ !”  Foeslayer  shouted projecting her mind into her son’s.  "Y ou said you’ll show me that you're a great ruler. What you’re doing now isn’t what a fair ruler would do.”  _ Show me you can live up to my expectations. _

Darkstalker  gave a light growl and stepped back, still glaring at Sunny who looked like a terrified dragonet.  **_ Enchant Sunny of the Sand and  _ ** **_ Nightwings _ ** **_  to tell me willingly _ ** **_ , _ ** **_  how she found out the location of the  _ ** **_ N _ ** **_ ight kingdom _ ** **_ , _ ** Darkstalker  thought.

Sunny looked at  F oeslayer  then back at  D arkstalker , but stayed silent.  _ Why isn't it working? _ Darkstalker  thought.  Foeslayer  gave  S unny a small friendly nod and  S unny smiled back unsurely. The faintest movement of her face caused her ear to shift into the light of the library’s windows causing her amber earring to shimmer.  _ Agh _ _! She has one of those earrings too _ ,  Darkstalker  thought angerly.  _ Of course, she has one! She was probably one of the first dragons to get one. That  _ _ Qibli _ _  is making things hard for me. _

" Sunny,”  Darkstalker  said, this time in a friendlier tone.  " You are half  Nightwing  yourself. I need to know where you got the information of the  N ight kingdom's location. For the sake of our tribe,”  Darkstalker  said  us ing his  kindest tone .

“I- I… I can't,”  S unny said shaking her head and taking a step back. “I'm sorry  D arkstalker  but if I told you things could become bad,” Sunny said then she hit herself mentally.  _ Why did I say that? _  Sunny thought scolding herself.

Darkstalker  gave a slight inner smile and pictured  Sunny’s  thoughts and wrapped her thoughts into a large ball.  " Sunny, why can’t you tell me who told you the location of the  N ight kingdom ?”  Darkstalker  asked hoping to stir the surface of the water of her mind. But to  Darkstalker’s  annoyance Sunny managed to keep a still mind with a glass barrier around it.

“I can’t. I won’t,” Sunny said bravely glaring at  Darkstalker  a blazing spark of determination lit in her green and gray eyes.

“Enchant all the books in this library to form a dome around Sunny of the  S and and  Nightwings  and me,”  Darkstalker  growled ignoring the stern shout coming from his  M other .

 All the books from the shelves of the library flew off the shelves in a stunning speed forming a large dome around the two  N ightwing  hybrids. The books formed a dark dome that let in almost no light. 

“I don’t want to resort to violence, but if you are working against me to help an opposer to the  N ight kingdom  I will have to deal with you myself. Is that clear?”  Darkstalker  growled lowering his large head to  Sunny’s  height. He opened his mouth summoning a warm storm in his chest. A warm glow from his mouth lit up the dark space caused by the enchanted books.

_ Darkstalker _ _!  _ Clearsight  thought forcefully thrusting her mind into his.  Darkstalker  stumbled back and the flame he held in his chest flickered out.  _ Drop the spell, _  she ordered with a savage anger behind her th o ughts.  Clearsight  thrust  her mind into  Darkstalker’s  again like someone would thrust a dagger at a dragon.  Darkstalker  stumbled back again after the second attack on his mind.

Darkstalker  dropped the spell and pushed a talon to his throbbing head. A painful reminder of what pain felt like. The books from the library fell to the floor almost  burying Darkstalker  and Sunny.   Darkstalker  shut his eyes and dragged a large talon over his head in a vain attempt for the pain to go away.

Darkstalker  heard the shuffle of wings and he suspected Sunny had taken her advantage and left. When the pain had reduced to a dull ache  Darkstalker  lifted his head and glared at  Clearsight .  " W hy did you do that?”  Darkstalker  roared.

"Why did  _ you _  do what you did?”  Claersight  returned, a blazing flame in her deep purple eyes.  Darkstalker  opened his mouth to defend himself but  Clearsight  held up an elegant wing stopping  Darkstalker . “No, it’s my turn. Since I’ve gotten here, I've been watching you. Asking dragons what they think about you. I can tell you want to do the right thing, but you’re doing the wrong thing,” She lectured.

“ Clearsight , there’s not always a peaceful way. If I try to do things the way you want, the  Nightwing s won’t get the life the deserve,”  Darkstalker  said doing his best to keep his tone even.

“I can think of ways to do things peacefully! I can see every path!”  Clearsight  shouted.  " Y ou said I could get a say in every choice you make. So far you insist that what you’ve done was what needed to be done!” her wings flared.

“I can see the paths that you see, I know that even if I-”

“Exactly! Its only you, all you say is I, not us!”  Clearsight  shouted crouching down and taking off. She paused as she was about to exit the library she said,  " T hink about it,” then she darted out of the library without giving  Darkstalker  another glance.

Darkstalker  started to go after her a  Foeslayer  stopped him.  " S he need time alone. Let her be, right now you have  Icewings  to attend to,” her tone, as  Darkstalker  noticed, was unhappy.

" Am I really thinking about myself?”  Darkstalker  asked his  M other  quietly.

“If I know you, then you don’t mean to think only about yourself. You're trying to do the right thing but for you, you need to take the path that works best for you. Son, you need to give  C learsight  a voice, if I follow up on what’s happening then you promised her leader ship as well from the looks of it, you haven't given it to her.”

“I- I’ll give her authority after this crisis is resolved,”  Darkstalker  said.

“I think there’s some  Icewings  you need to attend to,” His  M other  said spreading her wings and leaving the large library.

Darkstalker  sat down and sighted dramatically. The large library seemed empty, and the dust that had stirred when  Darkstalker ,  Clearsight  and his  M other  had been in library started to settle. Flakes of dust landed on  Darkstalker’s  closed eyes.  _ What did I do wrong? _ Darkstalker  said straining to hear even the barest sound _. “Exactly! Its only you, all you say is I, not us!”  _ Clearsigt’s  voice shouted in  Darkstalker’s  head.  Darkstalker  opened his eyes and looked around the empty library, faint orange and gold light from the broken roof lit up the grand building.

_ “I think there’s some  _ _ Icewings _ _  you need to attend to,”  _ his  M other 's voice rung through his head.  Darkstalker  lifted himself up and shook off the dust off his night black scales. A spark lit a blazing idea in  Darkstalker’s  mind. A plan ran through his mind,  _ maybe I can make things right, I can do what  _ _ Clearsight _ _  asked me to do. _

Darkstalker  excitedly left the library in a hurry sending up a cloud of once settled dust. When he was at the entrance of the library, he took off creating a large storm of wind.

Darkstalker  quickly made his way to the large court yard where the  I cewing s  were waiting. His shadow swept across the court yard causing sharp spikes of fear to emanate from the  Icewing s below.  Darkstalker  landed at the fount of the  I cewing s  where they could all see him.

_ That monster! I'll rip his throat out myself! _  A furious thought from the crowd broke above the rest.  _ Please don’t kill us, please don’t kill me _  another thought from the crowd;  _ If my sister didn’t survive the battle what will happen to our dragonets? _

" S ir, what should we do with the  Icewings ?” a  Nightwing  who was watching the  Icewings  with a furious glint in his eye said.

" W e let them go of course,”  Darkstalker  said to the  Nightwing  evenly.

He stared at  D arkstalker , mouth open.  _ Does he understand? What they’ve done to the  _ _ N _ _ ightwings _ _? _  “I don’t mean to offend you, but do you  _ know _  what the  I cewing s have-”

“I’m well aware of what the  Icewings  have done, it’s  _ you _  who doesn’t understand what the  Icewings  have done to the Nightwings ! ”  Darkstalker  snapped at him.

He looked stunned and took a moment to gather his thoughts.  " S orry your Majesty, do what you need to do.” he bowed deeply and hurried away.

_ He's even cruel to his own subjects, _  a thought from the  I cewing s  caught  Darkstalker’s  attention. Calmly  Darkstalker  took a deep breath.  **_ Who’s thought was that? _ **

Suddenly  Darkstalker’s  world became grey despite one brightly colored glowing dragon in the crowed of  Icewings .  **_ Bring  _ ** **_ him _ ** **_  here. _ **  The dragon was lifted from the mass of  Icewings  once  Darkstalker’s  vision returned to normal. The  Icewing  opened his mouth in a silent scream, he withered in the spells grasp.

" Y ou aren’t getting out of this spell,”  Darkstalker  said with an ominous hint of humor.  " Y ou're going be the first.”

_ The first? I'm going to die! I’m going to die, _  the  I cewing  thought frantically, his breathing became faster and panicked. He threw his whole body’s weight around, the spell kept him s t ill.

"O h no, quite the opposite,”  Darkstalker  said looking into the dark eyes of the panicked  Icewing . “Release this  Icewing  from any spell I've put on him,”  Darkstatlker  enjoyed the look of shock and the confused thoughts raging around in the  Icewing’s  mind. 

" W h...  _ why _  did you do that!” the  Icewing  shouted as the spell holing him up let him down. His tone was one of fear, anger, confusion, relief and so much more.

"O h, I almost forgot,”  Darkstalker  paused for a moment  returning the glare the  Icewing  gave  Darkstalker . “ E nchant this  Icewing  to pass through the barrier of the  N ight kingdom  unscathed, but after that  Icewing  passed through it can’t go through the barrier again.”

“I...” the  Icewing  said his voice  sof t ening . Suddenly he glared at  Darkstalker  and growled. Almost instantly he leaped at  Darkstalker , claws pointed at his eyes. Shocked  Darkstalker  raised his wings to protect the only vulnerable part of him. The  Icewing  slammed into  Darkstalker’s  midnight black wings. When  Darkstalker  lowered his wings the  Icewing  lunged for  Darkstalker  again. 

__ _ Have to _ _  kill him, this is every  _ _ Icewing _ _ ’s goal in life; to kill this monster! _  The  I cewing  thought as  Darkstalker  batted him to the ground again. The  I cewing  quickly scrambled to his feet and gave a undragonlike hiss.

_ Why do the  _ _ I _ _ cewing _ _ s hate me so much!  _ Darkstalker  thought angerly. “Enough!” he roared, his large voice  audible  throughout the castle. The  I cewing  startled for a moment, in that moment  Darkstalker  pinned him with his large talon. 

“I let you live, I let you free of my spells, I also got rid of the plague destroying to  Icewings ,”  Darkstalker  growled.  " A nd how do you thank me? You attack me! I'm trying to help; I’m trying to make peace.”

" We don’t need your peace! We don’t need your help! All you do is try to kill us!” the  Icewing  stopped to catch his breath before one final shout.  " Y OU KILLED OUR QUEEN!”

Darkstalker  closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  _ I know it isn’t the right thing to do, but sometimes I wish I could kill all the ungrateful  _ _ Icewings _ _. _ "Y ou think you know me, but when your enemies are the ones to tell your story, then they paint you as the bad guys. What if I told you that the  Icewings  of the past weren’t the way you thought of them? What if I told you that the war between the  Icewings  and  Nightwings  from two thousand years ago was started by the  Icewings ?”

"W e started it to get our prince back after you  Nightwings  stole him!”

" WE DIDN’T STEEL HIM!”  Darkstalker  roared at the  Icewings  beneath his talon who shrunk and cowered away from him. “ M y _  father,” _ Darskalker  growled. “ L oved my  M other , they left together willingly.”  Darkstalker  looked at the  Icewing  again. “I’m as much  Icewing  as I am  Nightwing .”

Darkstalker  could tell that his words had impact on  _ all  _ Icewing .  _ I'm not exactly one of you and I'd never want to be, but I'm as much of you as I am of your enemy. _ " T hink about it, and maybe tomorrow I'll try to release you again,”  Darkstalker  said.  **_ Enchant this  _ ** **_ Icewing _ ** **_  to obey my every command, _ ** Darkstalker  lifted his talon off the  Icewing . And predictably the  Icewing  leapt at  Darkstalker .

" S top.” the  Icewing  froze suddenly and fell to the ground with a painful thud.  " S it with the rest of the  Icewings .” the  Icewing  walked over to the mass of  Icewings  and sat down, glaring at  Darkstalker  the whole time.

Darkstalker  glared back at the  Icewing  for about a minute.  " That’s better,”  Darkstalker  said then turned to the  Nightwings .  "Y ou can go now, the  Icewings  won’t attempt to escape, they won’t even  _ think _  about it.” the  Nightwings  bowed to  Darkstalkere  and took off in different directions.  "A ll  Icewings  in the  N ight kingdom  must stay in this court yard and not move until I tell them so. You will not escape, and you will not  _ think _  about escaping.”  Darkstalker  surveyed the  Icewings , he walked up to the one who had attacked him minuets ago.  " What’s your name?”

“ Muskox,” he growled obviously trying his hardest not to say anything.

"W ell Muskox, we’ll see each other again and next time I hope you behave better than you just did,”  Darkstalker  said lowering his head to look straight Muskox’s eyes.  "T rust me you don’t want to fight with me.”

~~~~

For the next few hours  Darkstalker  looked around the castle for  Clearsight , he thought she might be in the library, but she wasn’t there.  Darkstalker  looked for her in her room, but after three hours  Darkstalker  considered using magic to find her, but he was sure  Clearsight  wouldn’t approve. Eventually he gave up . _ I’m sure  _ _ Clearsight _ _  will find me once she’s cooled down, _ Darkstalker  thought as he made his way to the throne room.

The throne room was dark, but that didn’t bother  Darkstalker  due to his night vision. The smooth marble floor was cool under  Darkstalker ’s  talons. Tired after the day’s battle  Darkstalker  laid down and closed his eyes.  _ I can rest _ _... _ _  for a bit _ .

~~~~

When  Darkstalker  opened his eyes, the sun was just starting to peak out from the behind the mountains.  _ Good, I didn’t over sleep _ .  Darkstalker  thought as he slayed out his large wings and stretched his front talons out in front of him. 

“Hello son. I see you’ve woken up.” a familiar male dragon voice said.  Darkstalker  froze, he looked around the room franticly.

" W here are you!”  Darkstalker  shouted. 

“I didn’t know you cared,” the voice said.  Darkstalker  noticed the voice came from the throne.  Sud den ly the air around the throne darkened and turned to a black mist which then faded to a light silver before revealing a dragon in the mist. It was Arctic of the  Icewings .

Darkstalker  stared at his father for a long moment, Arctic just returned a glare.  “Father, you're dead,”  Darkstalker  finally  spat  out .  _ This must be a dream or  _ _ the  _ _ product _ _  of a _ _  spell he cast in our time _ .

"Says who?” Arctic took a step closer, then another until he was in front of  Darkstalker .  Darkstalker  realized that  A r c tic was two thirds of his side. "And who are you to say?” he growled barring his teeth in a way that made even  Darkstalker  stiffen. "You’re a monster, you kill to get your way.  you say it’s the only way and even the dragons you’re around tell you to stop; but do you?”

Darkstalker  took a deep breath \- which sounded like a scared hiss-  to gather his thoughts. “I-”

“NO! You don’t and you never will!” Arctic hissed, the cold of his breath sending shivers down  Darkstalker ’s  spine. 

"You’re no different!”  Darkstalker  burst out shooting a blast of flames at his father  that Arctic dodged with astounding ease .

“I admit that I would do what you did if I had no self-restraint, but at least I'm noble enough to admit it,” Arctic said, then he took a step back and took a deep breath.  "B ut I didn’t come here to scold you.”

"O h?”  Darkstalker  raised an eyebrow.  "T hen what did you come here for? To send me to my  room?  To fight  me?  The  _ kill _ me?  You know how well that worked out the last time someone tried to kill me.”

"Oh yes it did. It resulted in you being imprisoned for two thousand years  by your lover , the person who tried to kill you escaped unscathed and the  Nightwings  lost their power and home and many of them died. Maybe if that’s the outcome I'd try to kill you more often.”

“I can’t tell if that’s one of your evil jokes,”  Darkstalker  said sarcastically.

“I don’t have evil jokes,” Arctic growled clearly getting  annoyed  with his son. “I came here to talk to you, talk to you about the  Icewings  you have imprisoned here but more importantly something else.”

“I already know your loyalties lie with the  Icewings  and not the  Nightwings , not Whiteout, not Mother!”  Darkstalker  paused growling in a low growl.  " W hy would I ever trust you let alone do what you say? I know you’re going to ask me to let the  Icewings  go, I’ll ask why, and you won’t tell me anything!”

“How dare you!” Arctic roared. “I loved  Foeslayer ! I loved your sister. But I won't lie so I say this: I hated you and I know from the moment you hatched you wanted to kill me.” Arctic glowed at  Darksalker . 

“I get the impression you didn’t come here to tell me that you were a good parent. I think you came here to say something else.”

“I d o , come with me.” Arctic spun around and headed down the hallway that connected the throne room to the rest of the tower.  _ I shouldn’t follow him, it’s obviously a trap. _  But the inner curiosity of  Darkstalker  said something else.  _ What will he show me? Maybe I'll figure out how he’s using a projection of his past self. Besides, animus magic besides my own won’t work on me. _

Darkstalker  reluctantly followed his father down the mirrored hallway of the  N ightwing  caste.  _ I don’t remember why Vigilance had so many mirrors in the castle, it makes the castle feel crowded. _  Arctic seemed unfazed by the bright colors of his scales reflecting off the mirrors. Arctic led  Darkstalker  down the hallways and down stair cases in seemingly random directions.  Darkstalker  wasn’t sure how Arctic knew the castle this well, even  Darkstalker  didn’t know the castle as well as Arctic seemed to.

" W here are you taking me?”  Darkstalker  asked looking at Arctic as if he could stab Arctic with his gaze.

" S omewhere.”

Darkstalker  waited for something more but it seemed that was all Arctic wanted to say.  Darkstalker  would've looked around in Arctic’s mind, but there were no thoughts to be heard. This only further confirmed  Darkstalker ’s  suspicions that the Arctic that  Darkstalker  was seeing was an illusion or projection.

Arctic finally stopped in front of an old looking door. The door was old and made  of  plain  wood instead of the lavish wooded doors or marble doors that the castle normally had. Old spider webs hung from the corners around the door. 

" W hy have you brought me here?”  Darkstalker  asked. “It’s just an old room, probably a storage closet. What a waste of my time!”

"O pen the door.” Arctic said plainly.

" W hy? Do you want me to see what’s in a storage closet?”  Darkstalker  shouted. Arctic just glared at  Darkstalker  in silence. “Fine,”  Darkstalker  growled. Arctic stepped to the side as  Darkstalker  reached out one of his large talons and opened the door.

Darkstalker recognized M oon’s voice instantly  and her expression was filled with worry.  “I’m having visions of a young  N ightwing . A  N ightwing -R ainwing  hybrid who loves to pick strawberries. I don’t know who this is, but I think it’s who-”

" W hy would this help us? We don’t have time to find a  Nightwing-Rainwing  hybrid when  Darkstalker  is around,” a voice from the  Icewing  growled, presumably to one named Winter.

Darkstalker  waited for them to notice him but they didn’t.  Darkstalker  looked to Arctic expecting an answer. 

His father just stared at him with his scorn filled expres s ion.  “I didn’t come here to show you this for questions, just watch and listen.”

Darkstalker  opened his mouth ready to give a sharp retort, but Arctic gave a warning hiss that silenced  Darkstalker . Growling  Darkstalker  looked around the room it had no windows and was lit by a small torch on the wall farthest from the door. Moon sat in front of the door the  Icewing  that was with them sat to the right of  M oon and Qibli a colorful  Rainwing  was in the room  Darkstalker  couldn’t see who was in the shadows of the room. Whoever it was, was a  Rainwing  with black scales or a  Nightwing ...

“I- I think this is  Darkstalker ,” Moon’s voice.

_ What? _ Darkstalker  recoiled at that theory.  _ How could Moon think I could be a  _ _ R _ _ ainwing _ __ _ N _ _ ightwing _ _  hybrid? What does  _ _ M _ _ oon think I am? The first  _ _ R _ _ ainwing _ _  with animus magic that chooses to pretend to be... well me! _

“I know what you’re trying to say, and I think you’re partly right I can see this future but it’s quite unlikely. It's hard for me to see  Darkstalker  as this dragon.”  Clearsight ’s voice.

“ Clearsight ?”  Darkstalker  whispered. No response and no thoughts.  Darkstalker  finally understood who the black dragon in the room was . He broke into a quiet chuckle that escalated into a roar of laughter.  " T his is just a dream, you’re just a product of my imagination. And for myself to think that I was having a vision or that you were actually visiting me from the afterlife!” Darkstalker laughed as he glared at the dream version of his father. 

“If I said yes ,  would it matter?”

" What do I care,”  Darkstalker  laughed as he raised his right talon.  " When you killed yourself, I thought I wouldn’t get the chance to kill you with my own talons,” old rage at his father boiled in  Darkstalker’s  veins.  " Y ou have no idea-”

"B ut yes, I do believe we have to stop  Darkstalker  before he destroys something, before he destroys time itself.”

Darkstalker  paused and Arctic gave him a smug grin. “Looks like you have bigger things to worry about than my annoying spirit haunting your dreams.”

Darkstalker  froze in shock.  _ Why would Clearsight work against me? Why? WHY! _ Darkstalker  thought.  "Why are you making me see this?”  Darkstalker  growled. 

“I'm not showing this to you for fun. This is a warning to stop what you’re doing and to put thing back to the way they were.” Arctic growled  back . 

"A nd how do you expect me to do that? If I returned  Clearsight  to our time she would still remember all this,”  Darkstalker  waved a talon around the small hall.  " W hat would you want me to do? Besides everything is still the same after I brought  Clearsight  back so what does it matter?”

“It may not affect much here but in a land far from here it's very different than what could have been if  C learsight  wasn’t taken from her time.” Arctic’s cold glare seemed to stare into  Darkstalker’s  soul. “If you continue the path that you are on it will only lead to destruction.”

" W hy should I change my ways, for all I know all this is just a dream.”  _ I sure hope this is a dream if not and this is a vision of  _ _ Clearsight _ _  conspiring against me than I don’t know what I'll do. _

"This is a warning and I hope you’ll take it...  S on,” Arctic said. 

The last word of Arctic's words startled  Darkstalker . As  Darkstalker  opened his mouth to say something, anything, the world around  Darkstalker  spun into a color less burl. 

Darkstalker  jolted awake- at least he thought he was awake- his heart pounding.  _ It was just a dream, it was just a dream, _ Darkstalker  thought repeatedly to himself.  _ But what if it was a vision. What if  _ _ Clearsight _ _  is working against you? _  The more hidden part of  Darkstalker’s  mind thought.

Darkstalker  got up quickly and grabbed a piece of paper from off his impeccably neat desk. “Enchant this piece of paper to tell me if  Clearsight  is working against me,”  Darkstalker  growled half of him dreading the answer and the other half eager to know where  Clearsight’s  loyalties lied. Slowly parts of the paper started to darken into the word that  Darkstalker  feared:  **_ Yes _ ** .


End file.
